Keitaro: The Last Man
by Lein
Summary: When a killer flu virus sweeps the world, and kills all living males, Keitaro finds himself alone and hunted. But can his love for Naru survie in a world where he's the only living man?
1. A killer Flu, and we're all out of sake!

**"Ring around the Rosey,"**

**"A pocket full of posies,"**

**"Ashes, ashes," **

**"We all fall down."**

**                 - _Nursery Rhyme from the time of the Black Death._**

**AN:**  _The following story was inspired by the movie, '28 Days later…' _

_     & 'Sliders: The Love Gods,' & 'The Stand.'_

**Prologue **

**THE NORTHERN IRAQI DESERTS:****2003**

"Jasmine!" 

There was a mutter.

"Wake up, wife, we must go!"

She muttered more loudly this time.  "Leeme lone."

He shook her harder.  "In he name of Allah, wake up!"  She recognized the voice.  It was her husband, Shari.  Jasmine blinked open her eyes, and glanced at the clock by her bed.  It was a quarter past 2 in the morning.  She mumbled something and rolled over to face the sound of her husband's voice.

Her husband was deathly pale.  His eyes started and bulged from their sockets.  There were car keys in one hand, and he was using the other to shake her.

"Shari?  What's wrong, what's the matter?"  He didn't say, or want to say.  He looked awfully frightened about something.  "Are the American's attacking our village?"  She knew it was a stupid question, but it was all she could think off.  The American dead line for Sadam to leave wasn't up for another two days.

"In a way," he replied, "In a way, it's worse.  Much worse.  You get dressed.  Get our Daughter dressed as well.  We've got to get out of here."

"Why?"  She asked, getting out of bed.  A great fear had seized her.  Nothing seemed right.  This was like a bad dream.  "Are Sadam's goons planning a raid to locate traitors to the state again?"  

She knew that wasn't it.  She had never seen Shari this afraid before.  She listened to the night air.  Nothing.  No sounds, but the sounds of the desert that lay beyond the town.

"Wife, don't ask questions.  We have to get away!  Far away from here.  You just get our daughter up and get her dressed."

"What about our things?  What about packing?"

This seemed to stop him.  To derail him somehow.  She thought she was as afraid as she could be, but apparently she wasn't.  She recognized that what she had taken for fright on his part was closer to raw panic.  He ran a distracted hand through his hair and replied, 

"I don't know.  I'll have to test the wind."

And he left her with that bizarre statement, which meant nothing to her, left her standing cold and afraid and disoriented in her bare feet and bed robe.

Had all that work down at the textile factory made her husband mad?  Testing the wind?  What did that mean?  And where was his idea of far away?  The southern area of Iraq?  Another country?  

Shaking her head, she hurried into the small room, which served as the bedroom for their five-year-old daughter, Ihram.  She quickly roused the sleeping girl and got her dressed.

"Waz wrong, mummy?"  She asked.

"We have to leave, sweaty," she replied.

"Why?"

"Because Daddy said so, that's why."

Her thoughts where interrupted by the sounds of something crashing in the house.  For a second, she thought it was Sadam's goons, hunting for them, but she recognized her husband's curses.  

"The files, the files," she herd him cry, "I must get all the files!"  He marched in the bedroom a few moments later, carrying a leather briefcase, and a torch.  "We must go, now!  We're leaving the country!"

"Are you crazy, husband," Jasmine replied, as they hurried out the front door.  "Sadam will send his troops after us.  Shari!  Soldiers will come after us."

Shari coughed into his hand.  "Not tonight, and very soon, not ever."  He said, and there was a hint of something terrible, hidden in the way he spoke.  "But the point is, wife, if we aren't gone very soon, we won't be leaving the country ether."

"What?"

"I don't know how I made it out of the plant alive to begin with.  A malfunction somewhere in the security system, I believe.  And I don't see why not.  Everything else in that Allah forsaken place has malfunctioned."

"Plant?  Malfunctioned?  Husband, what's going on!?!"

"Wife," Shari said, turning to face her, as he opened the car doors.  "The textile plant that I work for is not really a textile plant.  It's actually a secret biological weapons plant!"

Jasmine was horrified.  "But…"

"Oh, I was plant supervisor alright," he said, as he climbed into the drivers seat.  "But what went on inside, we weren't allow to tell anyone, under the pain of death."  

Jasmine bundled her daughter into the backseat, and climbed into the passengers seat.  Shari coughed loudly, as Jasmine did up her seatbelt, and made sure her daughters was done up as well, before her husband started the engine.

"Where are we going, Daddy," their daughter groaned from the backseat, "I was aseepin."  

"You can be aseepin in the car, sweaty," Shari said, as he put the car into reverse and pulled out of the driveway.  

"Husband," Jasmine asked, looking over her shoulder out the back window, at the black silhouette of the textile plant, looming in the distance.  "What happened?  Was there an accident?"  The look in his eyes told it all.  "Dear Allah, there was, wasn't there!"

"I was playing solitaire," he said, his hands gripping the wheel tightly as he drove off down the road.  "I looked up and saw the clock had gone from green to red.  I turned on the monitor, and…"  He gasped for breath, before continuing.  "And they were all --"  He paused, and glanced up in the rear view mirror at their daughter who was looking back with curious eyes.  "They were all D-E-A-D, down there, all but one or two, and they're probably gone now."

"What's D-E-A-D, Daddy?"  His daughter asked.

"Never mind, Daughter," Jasmine said.  Her voice seemed to come to her from down a very long canyon.

Shari coughed loudly.  "Everything's supposed to mag-lock if the clock goes red.  They got a super computer that runs the whole place and it's supposed to be fail-safe.  I saw what was on the monitor, and I jumped out the door.  I thought the door would cut me in half – it's supposed to shut down the second the clock went red, and I have no idea why it didn't.  Worst part is, I don't have any idea how long the clock had been red for."

"Did it shut down?"  Jasmine asked, a hint of fear creeping into her voice as she spoke.

"Eventually, yes," he replied, as he left the last of the residentially houses of the town, and drove out onto the highway.  "I was almost to the parking lot before I heard it thump shut behind me.  I can't help feeling lucky, if I had bothered looking thirty seconds later, I'd have been shut up in there."

"What was it?  What were you working on?"

"I don't know that.  I wasn't part of the scientists working on it, there for to keep it as secret as possible, only those who actually handled chemicals knew what it was they were making."  His eyes widened as he shock his head.  "But what ever it was, it ki---  It K-I-L-L-E-D them quick."

"What are we going to do once we get to the boarder?"  For the first time since she woke up, she saw her husband smile.  It was a weak one at that.

"I managed to get some of my personal files before we left, evidence to give to the Americans to prove that Sadam is still producing weapons of mass destruction."  He replied.  "That should get us into protective custody and away from Sadam, and --- what ever that was back there."

Jasmine looked over at her husband behind the wheel.  He was hunched tensely over the steering wheel, his face drawn in the dim glow of the dashboard instruments.  In the back seat, their daughter was laying down, sleeping peacefully, and thankfully, had no idea on the horrors of what was going on.

"Don't worry, wife," Shari said, forcing a smile.  "Everything's going to be alright."  

By dawn they were running south across the Desert, and Shari was coughing steadily.

.....................................................................

**Love Hina**

**Keitaro: The Last Man******

**By Lein**

.....................................................................

**JAPAN: 4 Weeks Later…**

"…Anti-war protestors today marched in the streets of Washington D.C to condemn the war in Iraq.  The demonstrators were orderly, and peaceful, with no arrests or rowdiness.  President Bush was reported having said, 'Even though I don't approve of their message, I approve of their method.'  With Sadam formerly owsed from Iraq, the hunt for weapons of mass-destruction continue.  With help from a former Iraqi scientists, safely hidden away in the United States, the Americans will soon have all the evidence they need."

The remote was aimed at the TV and the channel was changed.

"…Biological weapons were believed used in the northern area of Iraq buy Sadam during the war with the Coalition.  With the body count reaching up to 200.  Surprisingly, all of these victims are males."

The remote was aimed at the TV and the channel was changed.

"…The Yen slid another .009 cents today on the stock market, leading to a panic among investors…"

The remote was aimed at the TV and the channel was changed.

"…Try new Wonder White washing detergent.  It's bound to leave your white's looking as good as the first day they were bought!"

Keitaro smiled, as he lowered the remote and sunk back into the soft fabric of the couch.

"Ahhh, at last," he said, "A non news channel."  He didn't mind that it was a commercial, as long as it wasn't news.  It was all that had been on lately, news, news, news.  Just then, it went back to its regular scheduled program.

The news.

"Hi, welcome back.  In world news today, there has been an alarming amount of flu cases reported in North America, the Middle East, and Europe.  All these cases seem to be confined to the male population.  Authorities are claiming that this is not a terrorist act, as terrorists would use other biological weapons, other than the common cold."

Keitaro grumbled, as he turned off the TV set, and sighed, as his own reflection stared back at him from the blank screen.  He closed his eyes, and relaxed, taking in the surrounding sounds.  The ticking of the clock, the dripping of a tap not quite turned off, somewhere in the first floor.  The chirping of the birds outside.

Suddenly, his eyes flung open, as he heard a female scream rip through the air.

Keitaro leapt up off the couch in fright, looking horrified, as the scream was suddenly replaced by the sound of pounding footsteps, rushing down from upstairs.  The door to the living room was suddenly flung open, and in the doorway, stood a female samurai, carrying a very big sword. Her breath was rapid and deep, and what little could be seen of her face red with rage,

The reason her face was partially hidden, because there were a pair of boxer shorts across the upper part of her face, almost obscuring her raven black hair.

"URASHIMA!!!"  She bellowed, "Can't you hang your underwear up like a normal person, so that it won't blow away!?!"  She ripped them off her face, and threw them down on the ground.

"I—I--!"  Keitaro stuttered, but couldn't think of anything to say.  Motoko was seething with anger.  

"Save me your excuses, you weakling!"  She snarled, and unsheathed her sword, pointing it right at him.  "Your boxer shorts have assaulted me for the last time."  She then raised her sword high above her head, and then brought it down.  "Secret Technique: Air Splitting Sword!"  She cried out, as a wave of Energy suddenly barrelled straight for him.

"Oh boy,"  He managed to squeak, before he was blasted out the closed window, shattering it, as he sailed, spiralling into the air.  He sailed through the air, cart wheeling, and finally came down in some treetops.

"Owwww," He moaned, his back lay across a tree branch.  "Why dose this always happen to me?"

His thoughts were interrupted, when there came a cracking sound.  His eyes widened with fear.  He wasn't able to scream, as the branch snapped and he fell all the way to the ground below.

"You'd think being the only guy living in an all girls dorm would be heaven."  He tried to move his arm, but pain shot up his spine, and he winced loudly.  "It's like treading a mine-field!  One wrong step and, BOOM!"

He moved his leg, which thankfully wasn't broken, and kicked the tree in frustration.  The whole thing shook, and there was a loud snap.  Keitaro gulped loudly, as he looked up into the tree.  There was a massive branch, that had been broken by his fall, but was barely hanging on.  His kick had finally knocked it lose.

It dangled about on a lose thread, then snapped and plummeted all the way down to the ground.  That was the last sight Keitaro saw, before everything went painfully black.

**OREGON: USA: 3 Days Later…**

Driving along in the fading light with his headlights on, Sargent Greg Burnet of the Oregon State Police hummed a tune to himself.  One hand on the wheel, and the other arm resting half outside the window.  The window was down, and the breeze blowing through, ruffling his short hair, his eyes hidden behind wraparound Bolli cycling glasses tinted like oily water.  He kept the vehicle on the narrow, winding track with the languid ease born of long experience.  

He was heading in a North Westerly direction, following the highway towards his home in Portland.  Now that his shift, patrolling the highway was over, it was time to head back home.

The sudden rumble in the distance of thunder, made Greg glance up at the sky.  Dark, inky black clouds where gathering on the horizon, casting forbidding shadows on the landscape in the distance.  "Looks like rain," he muttered.  "Can't be too careful," he reached one hand over to the tape player, and stopped the tape.  Then reached for the dial knobs on the cars radio.

He turned the switch that activated the car's radio, and began tuning it into a radio station.  Finally, getting something, he leaned back, and listened.  The radio station that he'd just turned to was finishing up with some song from the late eighties, before the DJ began talking once more.

"…In New York, three middle aged men have died in hospital from what Doctors could only describe as the Common Cold.  'These men were very healthy and not ready to die just yet,' one doctor stated.  'We have received hundreds of cases concerning the flu, but none as server as these 3 cases.'  The National Health Department has been called in to asses the situation.  Despite these deaths, the police refused to rule it as a terrorist attack.  Coming up next we have…"

"Never mind that, what about the weather?"  Greg mumbled.  There was a rolling growl of thunder.  The sky was darker, lower, and menacing.  "Yeah," Greg said taking another quick glance at the sky.  "Looks like rain, alright."     

He drove on towards the gathering clouds, listening to two more international news stories, and still, not hearing anything about the weather.  He tried other stations, but nobody told him anything.  

A few raindrops spattered the windshield, and Greg turned on the wipers.  He glanced at his wristwatch.  Nine o'clock.  The sound of the raindrops hitting the roof with a dull plunking sound, motivated him to push in a cassette tape, to try and drown out the rain, and then turned the volume nob up.

The car took a corner, spraying water everywhere.  Greg turned the wipers on to full blast, as the rain began falling in droves.  Greg reached over, and turned the volume up higher, as he continued to drive along.

Lighting lit up the night sky, and the thunderclap that followed actually made Greg jump, and he nearly lost control of the car.  He eased of the accelerator a fraction, just as the car careened over a slight raised section of the road, sending the vehicle into the air for a split second, before bouncing back down on the road with a shuddering jolt.  

He reached over and stopped the cassette tape.  He needed to concentrate.  Rounding a tight corner, Greg spied some blurry lights in the distance.  Starring past the flicking of the whippers, he could make out different colours.  Yellow, Red, and flashing orange.  That looked a lot like…

Suddenly, a figure stumbled onto the road, and collapsed right in his path.  Greg slammed on the brakes, and the car fishtailed on the rain slick road, losing traction in an end-to-end spin, and for a horrified moment he thought he was going to crash into the other car --- he knew he was going to crash --- and he spun the wheel frantically, and the car slid to a stop, the front left tier just a foot from the other vehicle. 

He paused there, listening to the rhythmic flick of the wipers.  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  He looked out to her right, through the distorted image of the passenger's side window, and saw that the other car had run right of the road, and slammed into a power poll.

The rain thrummed loudly on the roof of the car as Greg sat there for what seemed like hours, just staring at the foliage on ether side of the road, and a steep hill on the other side of the road to the cliff.  Not that there was much to see.  Sheets of water streamed down over the sides of the windows, making anything outside to see, virtually impossible.

He reached over, and picked up his car radio.  "This is Sargent Greg Burnet out on route 205, just outside Portland.  I have a single vehicle accident with crash victims.  Over."  He let go of the button.  

There was a few crackles of static, before a voice answered.  "Rodger that, Sargent, Paramedics are on the way.  Over."

He turned the keys in the ignition that shut of the engine, and reached over into the back seat, where the army green coloured umbrella lay.  He then opened the door, and got out of the car, feeling heavy raindrops pelt his head, even with the parker jacket's hood up, it was raining hard enough so that his head hurt.  He then raised the umbrella to the heavens, and opened it up.   

It was a real storm.  The wind howled and tore at him, trying to snatch the umbrella from his grasp, and soaking his clothes.  Greg pulled the hood of the parker even further over his head, almost dragging it down over his eyes and obscuring his vision, as he shivered from the cold.  Then, gripping the umbrella with both hands, he walked over to the crash.

A flash of lighting lit up the surrounding area for him, and he was able to get a better look.  The figure he'd nearly hit earlier, lay just in front of his car, nearly under the bumper bar.  He bent down, and felt the mans pulse.  There was one, but it was fairly weak.

"Hang on, Buddy," he told the man in a soft voice, "Help is on the way.

Greg swore he herd the man moan, but over the noise of the storm, it was impossible.  He had blood streaking down his face, and his neck was swollen.  Suddenly, the man erupted into spastic compulsions of coughing fits.

This startled Greg and he fell over in surprise, crying out.  Greg blinked in surprise, and looked back at the man.  He was now lying on his side, coughing like mad.  

The ambulance arrived in just under an hour.  Some more patrol cars arrive to cordon of the scene, and await the arrival of a tow truck.  Greg gave his statement to the paramedics about the mans condition.  

However, it was all in vain.  The man died five minutes after the ambulance arrived.  The paramedics placed him in a body bag, and prepared a trip to the morgue.

"Poor guy," Greg told another state trooper.  "He was suffering from a cold too."

"Then he shouldn't have been out on the roads," the other trooper scoffed as he shook his head.  "Especially in this weather.  Damn idiot deserves what he got."

"So, who gets to inform his family?"

"Oh no," the man said turning away and heading for his car, "Don't look at me.  I've just started my shift for the night, and I don't want to begin it with this crap."

"Well, somebody has to tell 'em," Greg said, "And I've just finished my shift."

"Then get a rookie to do it," the man said.  Greg was about to reply, but instead let out a loud coughing fit.  "Jeese, I'll organize it," the trooper said, raising an eyebrow, "You'd better get out of this rain, before you catch a cold your self."

"Yeah," Greg muttered, clearing his throat.  "See ya 'round."

Five days later, Greg died just four miles on route to the hospital.

**JAPAN: 28 Days Later…**

Darkness.

At first, there was nothing but darkness.

That was the first feeling that made it's way into his head.  He was aware of the darkness.  That was, in it's own odd way, a good sign.  It meant that he was still alive.

Then, there were colours.  First there was one, then five, then a dozen, then hundreds.  

Keitaro was swimming in an ocean of colours.  He swam and swam until his arms grew tired, but still he swam.  As he swam he saw a bright light and swam towards it.  The light got bigger and brighter until he swam into consciousness.

Keitaro opened his eyes to a white ceiling. Sunlight - muted by gauze curtains - made it glow with an ethereal brilliance.

Slowly he flexed his hand.  There were marks in his arm, the blue bruises left by needles.  A lot of them. Beside the bed were stacks of white boxes, monitors, glowing LEDs, medical equipment.  A plastic-looking filament led from them to a translucent plastic bracelet around his wrist.

Dazed, he looked around.

Besides the bed and the medical monitors, the room was bare.  A polished wooden floor with a couple of small heating vents, whitewashed walls, white gauze curtains across a window to the left.  There was a closed door in the far wall and to the right a large mirror.  A camera on servos watched him from a high corner.

*Where the heck am I?*

Just then, it all came back to him.  Motoko.  His boxer shorts.  And then, that tree branch fell on him, knocking him out.  He reached up and felt his head.  There were a number of bandages wrapped around his skull.  There was still a slight pain as he touched his head.

He sat up, the sheets falling away.  He was wearing some kind of hospital gown. When he tried to stand up he found the wire linking me to the monitor too short.  He pulled the jack out, causing machines to redline, and lurched across to the window.

The camera did not follow him as he walked.

It was normal glass, not very thick.  There was a wire mesh behind the glass.  Beyond that was a two-story drop to a manicured lawn sloping gently away to a tree line that continued as far as he could see.  Keitaro flipped the latch on the window, and lifted it up, allowing a small cool breeze to flow into the room.

There was nothing outside, that he could see.  He then walked over to the mirror, and rapped lightly on it.

"Hello?"  He called out.  "Is there anyone there?"

No one answered.

Curios, he walked over to the door, and tried the handle.  It clicked, and swung open.  Keitaro blinked a few times, and then cautiously peered out the door.

There was a long hallway that seemed to go on in both directions.  There was nothing in the hallways.  

"Hello?"  He called out again.  No one answered him.  Slowly, he took one step outside the room.  When nothing happened, he took another step, then another, and finally, was walking down the hallways.

The hallways of the hospital were completely deserted.  Things lay here and there, in a neat order, as if nothing much had happened.  It was as if the entire hospital staff just one day walked away from their jobs, leaving the building hanging open.

The lifts weren't working, so he took the stairs.  Still nothing could be found.  He wound his way through the corridors, following the hospital maps, until he came to the lobby.

This place was deserted as well.  Not one soul remained.

"Where is everybody?"  He cried out.  He looked around, and then raising his hands to his mouth, shouted out, "Hey!  I'm a deranged sex maniac who has raped and killed, ten woman!!!"

Still nothing.

"Wow," he muttered, "Something really must be wrong."  Suddenly, he remembered.  "Oh no!  The Hinata Apartments!"  He broke into a full run, "I hope they're still there."

Keitaro burst out the front doors, and ran through the streets.  They were al empty as well.  Nothing.  Not even a cat or a dog remained.  The entire city was a ghost town.  He could see the Hinata building as he drew closer.  With every passing second, he grew more and more frightened.  

Finally, he reached the stairs that lead up to the Hinata Apartment complex.  Keitaro stopped, and sighed with relief.  It was still there, now he would just have to hope it's occupants would be as well.

He took a deep breath, and ran up the stairs, not bothering to stop until he reached the top.  There he stopped to catch his breath.  After a few gasping moments, he looked up at the place.  It still looked the same way it did the last time he saw it.

"Hey, guys!"  He shouted out, "It's me, Keitaro!"  There was no reply.  "Guys!?!"  He called out.  He was stunned.  No, not the Hinata Apartments.  He tried one last time.  "Hey, Naru, can I look through your underwear drawer!?!"

When a full minute had passed, Keitaro's bottom lip began to tremble.  Where was everybody?

Slowly, he walked up to the door, and went on inside.  The whole place was deserted.  He ran upstairs and down.  Looking in all the girls rooms.  Naru's, Shinobu's, Kitsune's, Motoko's, and lastly, Su's.

Nothing.  Every single room was empty.  Not even Tuma could be found.  He couldn't believe it.  He slumped down the stairs, depressed, and even contemplating suicide.  

Finally, he reached the living room.  The place where everything had began.  He looked at the couch he'd been resting on.  One minute, he'd been enjoying a peaceful day, the next; he was in a bad Twilight Zone episode.

"WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYBODY!?!?!"  He shouted out.  

He let out a low sob, and trudged into the kitchen.  Maybe there was still something to eat.  As he entered the dinning room, he spied a half folded newspaper, resting on the tabletop.  Keitaro's eye's lit up, and he rushed forward, grabbing it.  He opened it up, and fell silent.  The headlines said it all.

**"SUPER FLU SWEEPS THE NATION!"**

He gasped, and nearly let the paper slip through his fingers.  He felt his knees buckle, and he collapsed into a chair.  

"No," he muttered.  "It's not possible.  Everybody is gone.  Everybody!"  He then heard a low sob, and realized, that it came from his own throat.  "Oh Naru," he sulked, "I never got to tell you how much I really cared for you!"

He then walked over to the fridge and poured himself a drink.  The power had gone out, but it hadn't been opened for some time, and there was still some cold air inside.

He trudged into the living room and sat down.  He tried to see if anything was on TV but there was no power, and al that greeted him was the shiny black reflection of his own miserable face.

Instead, he stretched out on the couch, put his feet up, and decided to read the rest of the paper, hoping to find out more on what had happened.

_"Members of W.H.O. (World Health Organization) have today declared that the strange and unexplained flu virus that has been plaguing Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the America's is in fact on Japanese soil.  So far, no female cases have been reported, but doctors yesterday pronounced the first death of a Japanese man aged 28 of this mysterious 'Super Flu.'  Mass panic is sweeping the entire country as people are evacuating the larger cities for the country side."_

"Oh," Keitaro muttered, as he lowered the paper down.  "That's where everybody has gone."  Suddenly, he sprung up of the couch.  "Wait! Maybe there's a good chance that Naru is still alive out there somewhere!"

He knew it was a long shot, but it gave him something to live for.  Something to do.

He suddenly felt a cold breeze blow through the living room, and he rubbed his arms.  But first, he needed a change of clothes.  He was still in the hospital garb he wore when he woke up.

Keitaro went back up to his room, which was exactly the way he remembered it.  He rummaged through his cupboard for some clothes and foot ware.  Then, he grabbed a backpack, and began to fill it with the few personal items he would need for the long journey.

His Discman, his sketch book, some pacers and extra leads, and last, but not least, his…

Keitaro paused.  His collection of photo both pictures was missing.  It wasn't in the usual place he always hid it.  He practically turned his room upside down, searching for it, but it wasn't there.  Someone had taken it.

Had Naru taken it?

Something kindled deep down inside Keitaro.  That was a good sign she was still alive.  He hoped that was the case.  But then again, why would Naru take it?  She never came out and revealed her true feelings to him.  Just her anger at his clumsiness.

Finally, he decided that it was possible that she took it with her.  I so, she might be still alive, somewhere out there, headed down stairs and began to raid the kitchen, and pantry.  Food was going to be needed for his journey.  He packed some food into plastic bags to seal their freshness, and preserve them for a long journey.

He was finally ready at last, and as he stood in the open doorway of the Hinata Apartment, he realized, he had no idea where he was going to go.

"Arrrrgggggghh!"  He cried out in frustration.  In all his excitement, he realized he didn't have any particular destination in mind.  Grumbling, he headed back inside.  He raided a few cupboards, before he found what he was looking for.

A map of the surrounding area.  Roads, highways, and rail lines.  Any possible destination that Naru might be.

Keitaro moaned loudly, as a sweat drop rolled down his forehead.  Naru could be anywhere.  He wouldn't know where to start looking.  All his things crashed down to the floor, and he swayed a little.

"Damn it, Naru, Where the hell are you!?!"  He shouted, tugging at his hair.  

Day followed day.  Keitaro lounged about the Hinata Apartments, eating what little food was left in the whole building, and even venturing out into the city to look for more food.  There were no signs of life anywhere.  A few birds chirped here and there, but not as many as there used to be.  

He finally managed to find a radio, but could not find anything.  All there was was just static from AM to FM.  Eventually boredom began to kick in, and he found himself cleaning things around the house, windows, the hallways, his room, and even the hot springs.

"Oh Naru," Keitaro muttered, as he collapsed on the couch after finishing his chores for the day.  Even though there wasn't any point to them, they kept him sane.  "Where are you?"

He lit a few candles as the final rays of sunlight sank beneath the hills, plunging the entire city into darkness.  Usually, on nights like this, he'd go up to his room, and look out at the array of lights from the city below.  

Now, it was just a blanket of darkness.

He groaned loudly, and placed a magazine over his face, as he tried to think about anything besides Naru.

CREAAAAK!

The magazine slipped from Keitaro's face, to land softly on the couch.  He looked about.  Someone was inside the Hinata Apartments.  But who?

Slowly, he got up off the couch, and made his way into the kitchen, to get the biggest kitchen knife he could find.  Pulling it out from the drawer, he moved back into the living room, and looked around.

No one was there.  Holding the knife up high, he inched his way over to the steps that lead to the second floor.

Looking around, he saw only darkness, leading up the stairs.  It was then, that someone smashed a Sake bottle over his head, and Keitaro was out cold before he hit the ground.

***

Keitaro opened his eyes to the sound of birds chirping loudly.  He was lying on his back, on a sandy beach.  The sound of waves crashing on the shores made him turn to see the ocean off to his right.

Then, he heard laughing.  Looking of to his left, he saw a group of girls, all sitting down, enjoying a picnic lunch.

It was the entire gang.

"Naru?"  He called out.

Naru got up from the group.  "Well, it's about you woke up, Keitaro," she said, as she walked over to him.  "You've been out for hours now, idiot."

"What happened?"  He asked.

"Don't you remember?"  Naru asked, "Motoko blasted you out the window, and knocked you out when a tree branch fell on you.

"Oh yeah," Keitaro muttered, as he turned to face the sky.  "That's right."  The sudden rumble in the distance of thunder, made Keitaro glance up at the sky.  Dark, inky black clouds where gathering on the horizon, casting forbidding shadows on the landscape in the distance.  "Looks like rain," he muttered.  "Maybe we should be heading inside now?"

"Nope," Naru said, "We're leaving."

"leave?"  Keitaro sat upright.  "What?  Why?"

The gang where suddenly packed up, quicker than he thought possible.  Naru waved goodbye to him.  "You know why, idiot," she said.  "Please don't look for me, Keitaro.  You know why."

"Wait, Naru, don't leave!  NOOOOOO!!!"

***

Keitaro cried out in horror, as he leapt forward.  It only took him a second to realize that was a dream.  His arms were frozen in a grab for an invisible object in front of him.  His eyes were wide, and he was breathing in and out at a frantic rate, and he was covered in sweat.  

This time, he could see clearly.

He was in the Hinata Apartments, lying down on the couch.

"Keitaro?"  Keitaro turned at the sound of the voice.  He blinked a few times at the shadowy figure, and then felt around for his glasses.  "Here," the woman said, handing them to him.  He put them on, and blinked the blurry figure into focus.

"Aunt Haruka!?!"  She raised her fist to correct him, but lowered it.

"Yes, Keitaro," she said with a smile, "It's me."  Keitaro's eyes blurred over with tears, as he suddenly leapt forward and flung his arms around her.

"Oh Aunt Haruka," he bawled out loud, "I was beginning to think that I'd never see you again!"  Haruka stroked his hair, and patted his back, like she would calm a frightened child.

"It's okay, Keitaro," she said, "I was beginning to think I'd never see you again."

"Oh Aunt Haruka," Keitaro said through tears, "What the hell is going on!?!  It's all one big nightmare!"

"Easy Keitaro," Haruka calmed him, "Just calm down."

"I can't," He bawled, "I wake up in hospital and find out the whole place is disserted!  What happened to everyone!?!  Where are all the girls!?!"

"Just calm down, first," she said, hugging him close.  "Calm down."  Keitaro did calm down, and she let go of him, so he could rest back down on the couch.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Haruka, it's just that…"  He paused, felt his head, and then looked back up at her.  "Did you hit me over the head with a bottle?"

"I thought you were a squatter," Haruka said with an embarrassed smile.  "I didn't know it was you."

"What's going on, Aunt Haruka?"  He asked.

"Some sort of virus," Haruka said, "No ones too sure but it's believed to have originated from Iraq.  It was disguised in the form of the common cold, but it spread like wild fire.  First the Middle East, then Africa, Asia, Europe, The America's…" she trailed off.  "Everywhere you went, the air smelled of death.  The doctors tried all kinds of new drugs, but none of them worked."  She shook her head.  "The last thing I heard, before the power went out, was that a strain had finally reached Australia, the last infection free zone in the world."

"Where are all the girls, Aunt Haruka?"  He gulped loudly.  "Are they… dead?"

"No," Haruka said.  Keitaro sighed with relief.  "They all went their separate ways," Haruka said.  "Su left for her home country, Shinobu went looking for her family, and so did Motoko, and Kitsune."

"What about Naru?"

"She left too, Keitaro."  She shrugged.  "But she didn't say why.  She just upped and left one morning."

"I have to go find her," Keitaro said, climbing off the couch.  But Haruka pushed him back down with one hand.

"No you don't," she said, "You've just woken up from a comma, you're in no condition to go anywhere."

"What!?!"  Keitaro cried out, "Why?  I can't sit here, knowing that Naru is out there somewhere!  I have to go find her."

"Keitaro…"  Haruka trailed of again.  "That's not a good idea.  Really."  Keitaro frowned.  

"Why?"

"There's… something I haven't told you yet.  About the plague."

  
"What?" 

"It only affected, men."  Keitaro's bottom jaw dropped like a rock.

"WHAT!?!"

"It only killed the male population of the world.  Not the female population.  We were left untouched."

Keitaro swallowed loudly, as he pointed at himself.  "Y-y-you me-mean, that…"   

"You're the only man left alive?"  She nodded weakly.  "I'm afraid so."

Keitaro got that butterfly feeling inside his stomach, as he suddenly felt smaller than before.  "Oh boy," he muttered weakly, "This is… this is…"  Suddenly he leapt of the couch into a star jumping position in the air.  "FANTASTIC!!!"  He landed back down on the ground with tears running down his face.  "At last, I've never been very popular with all the girls, now I'm the only one they have to chose from.  This means I can get any girl I want!  Wow!"

"It's not something I'd get all excited about, Keitaro," Haruka warned.  "The world is a completely different place now, Keitaro.  It's more dangerous than ever, and even more so for you."

"I, I don't understand, Aunt Haruka," Keitaro replied.  "What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it, Keitaro," she said, crossing her arms.  "You may possibly be the only man alive on the entire planet.  The future of the human race may rest in your very hands."

"Uhhhh…" Keitaro twiddled his thumbs nervously. Suddenly, something came to mind.  "Hey wait a minute, if only the men died, how come I've found no bodies, and why is the whole city empty?"

"Oh, that," Haruka said.  "All the woman in the city decided that having corpses laying about in the streets and buildings wouldn't be very healthy, so they decided to gather up all the dead men and burned them all in one big bonfire, which also doubled as a mass funeral for all the woman who lost their husbands, brothers, uncles, nephews, and sons."

"How come I wasn't taken?"

"That I don't know," Haruka said scratching her head.  "The plague hit our city some time after you went into your comma, and we figured that you were dead as well."

"Didn't anyone come to check up on me?"

"There was too much confusion at first," Haruka replied.  "At first, no one knew that the plague only affected men.  When the plague came, we were all frightened, not sure weather we would make it or not, but when it was clear who the true victims were…"  She trailed off, and then turned away.  "We believed you were dead too, Keitaro.  After seeing streets full of dead men, no one wanted to go down to the hospital and see your dead body."

"Wow," Keitaro muttered, "They really cared for me, didn't they."

"Naru cried the most," Haruka replied.  "You should've seen the funeral we had for you.  All the girls pitched in and helped, even Sarah.  It was lovely."

"Even Sarah?"  Haruka nodded.  "Oh God, Sarah," Keitaro covered his mouth in shock.  "How did she take Seta's death?"

"With denial," Haruka replied.  "Although he was away on another dig, she refused to believe he was dead, so after the plague hit, she took of in search of him."

"Didn't anybody go with her?"

"Mutsumi left with here."  Keitaro looked around again at the empty room.

"So, why is the whole city empty?"  Keitaro asked.

"Most of the woman who lived here, couldn't stand to be in the same place where their husbands and little boys had died, and quite a lot of them left after the funeral bonfire."

"So why did you decided to stay?"

"Too many memories here, I guess," she said with a shrug.  "I've poured my life into this place, I just couldn't up and walk away from it.  I guess looking after the place will give me something to do to keep from going stir crazy." 

"So, what do I do now, Aunt?"  Keitaro asked.

"I have no idea," she replied with a shrug.  "However, what ever you do decide to do, make sure you think it through.  Remember Keitaro, the world is a different place now, and you're going to have a hard time blending into the background now."

"I… I…" Keitaro stammered.  "Aunt Haruka, I really want to go find Naru."

"I thought just as much," she said with a sigh, and sat down on the couch next to him.  "Keitaro, I'm not going to prevent you from looking for Naru, if you want to, but I'm truly against it.  You could get your self killed, or worse.  But what ever you do decide, I won't stop you."

Keitaro looked long and hard at the floor, then he turned and looked directly at this aunt.

"I have to go find her, Aunt Harauka," he said.  "I love her."

"Very well, Keitaro," she said patting him on the back.  "If that's what you want to do, you can do it.  Just be careful, stay hidden as much as possible, and don't trust anyone you don't know."

"But there's a slight problem, Auntie," Keitaro said in a small voice, "I don't know where to start looking."

"I know I really shouldn't be telling you this, Keitaro," she said with a sigh, "But did you ever think to check her family home?  She might have stopped in to check up on them."

"Of cause," Keitaro cried out, jumping of the couch, "That's it, you're a genius Aunt Haruka," He hugged her, and she just smiled.  He then started rushing about like mad, repacking the things he had packed earlier, getting ready for his long trek.

"You're going to leave right now?"  Haruka said, "But it's already dark outside."

"I'm sorry Aunt Haruka," he replied, after packing up the last of his things, "But the longer I delay, the further away Naru gets from me.  I have to go now."

"Very well," she then pulled out a carton of cigarettes, and lit one, "Oh, by the way, there's a freight train stopping by to pick up some cattle bound for Kyoto, I'm sure you can sneak aboard and get to her family's house much more quicker."

"Thanks, Auntie," he said, giving her a quick peak on the check.

"Just be careful, Keitaro," she said, "Remember what I said.  The world is a much more dangerous place now.  Remember to keep yourself hidden, and for God's sake, trust no one you don't already know!"  Keitaro waved one last good-bye, and was gone.  Haruka blew some smoke out through her nose and sighed.  "He's gonna screw things up, I just know it."

***

Four hours later, Keitaro lay crouched, hidden in the bushes, as the freight train rattle past at an almost crawling speed.  It had just delivered its cargo, and picked up some more.  He watched and waited as this happened.

Now, as the train was pulling out, he saw his chance.  Waiting for the last possible moment, he leapt from his hiding place, and ran up along side the train.  Reaching out with both hands, he grabbed the door handle, and yanked it open.  

It didn't open on his first try, and with a third final tug, it squealed open.  Nearly tripping over his own feet as he did so, Keitaro then threw his pack into the train compartment, and quickly climbed inside.

Once inside, he closed the door, although not completely shut, allowing a small slither of light to shine into the blacked boxcar.  He slumped down against the wall, and sighed loudly, looking out at the darkness, through the small crack in the door.

"Don't worry Naru," he said softly, "I'll find you, I promise."  He yawned loudly, and muttered.  "I promise."  Then, he slumped over, and fell into a haunted, restless sleep.

For three days, Keitaro rode the rail, waiting for the one stop, Kyoto.  Eventually, on the dawn of his fourth day of riding the rail, the diesel train pulled into Kyoto with shunting grunts.

The train shuddered as it crossed the points into the city and the rain ran in streams down the sides of the boxcar.  Sitting alone in the darkness of the car, Keitaro glanced out at the water streaking down in front of the slightly open door, watching the city in the background.

Sighing in relief that he'd finally reached Kyoto, he gathered his things together, and inched over to the door, and looked out cautiously.  He could see no one about.  That was a good thing, for it meant less chances of being spotted.  

Pulling the hood of his parker up over his head, the opened the door just a little, and leapt from the train.  He shivered as the raindrops began to pelt him, and he almost lost control as he landed with both feet on the ground.

His sneakers landed with a dull splat, and his feet sank into soft earth.

"Urrggggghh!"  He moaned, as he lifted up his hands, which he'd used to balance his landing.  Unfortunately, they landed right in the mud.  "Disgusting."  He stood up, and held his hands out in the pouring rain, washing the mud of them, before hoisting up his back pack, and ducking his head, jogged for the nearest shelter.

He nearly ran right into the wall, he was running that fast, and shook the water from him, as he was finally under cover.  Then he looked about, to get his bearings.

"Now, if I remember correctly, Naru's house is on the east side of the city."  He then edges his way around the building, and looking about, dashed across the open plain of the rail yard, towards the nearest building; running from building to building, until he was clear of the rail yard.

Once clear, he made his way towards the city.  There were people everywhere.  Woman that is.  They were walking this way and that.  Some with babies, some with little girls, and others in groups.  All of them looked sad, lost, confused, and alone.

From the safety of an ally way, and with his hood covering his face, Keitaro watched them.  Was Naru among that crowd of people?  He couldn't risk being seen, not now, and not with so many people around.

Instead, he walked along through back allies, keeping of the streets as little as possible.  There were a few times he had to step out into the open streets, but luckily for him, the further away from the train station he got, the less women he saw around.  Which suited him just fine.

Eventually, he reached the residential section of Kyoto.  And the area where Naru's family house was located.  Keeping his head down, and walking as fast as he could, he hurried down the streets.  

As things turned out, it wouldn't have made much difference if he'd walked along with the hood back.  There was almost no life on the streets, as he walked down them.  The occasional cat and dog watched as he walked by, but no people.

The residential area's where almost a ghost town.  Almost.  An occasional woman was spotted sitting out the front of their houses, looking so sad.

Finally, he came to the address he was looking for.  Naru's house.  The house where her family lived.  At last, he was here.  And so was Naru, he hoped.

"Naru," he whispered softly, then taking a deep breath, walked up the garden path, and knocked loudly on the door, and standing back, waited for an answer.

**LATE LAST NIGHT…**

Haruka lit her cigarette on the stove, as she prepared to make some dinner for the night.  She was proud of the fact that she always kept some extra gas tanks laying around for just the right emergency.

Yesterday, some women got the power back on line, and she now had lights to work with.  Still, there was nothing on the TV.  She cracked an egg into the frying pan, and some bacon.

Suddenly, she spun around, looking from one end of the room to the other.  

Nothing.  No one was in the room.  She frowned, and slowly, turned back to the stove.  That was the fifth time in the past two days she'd felt like some one was watching her.

She didn't like the feeling one bit.

Outside, the wind blew through the trees with howling groans.  Perched on the top branch, a figure clad entirely in black watched Haruka through a pair of night vision goggles.

She lowered them, and picked up her walkie-talkie.

"Come in, Base, this is Number 8 reporting.  Come in, over!"

"This is Base, we read you loud and clear, Number 8.  Do you have anything to report?  Over!"

"Subject is not as his listed residence," the female said, not taking her eyes of Haruka.  "The current caretaker obviously is living there alone.  Over!"

"Damn it!"  The female voice on the other line swore.  "Well, where the hell else could he be?  Over!"

"Don't ask me," The lady in black said with a shrug, "However, I can find out for you, through certain tactics.  Over!"

"Negative on that, Number 8," the other voice said back rather quickly.  "We must remain anonymous at all costs, to reveal ourselves to her may put our entire operation in jeopardy.  Over!"

"Well," Number 8 asked through her teeth, "How else are we supposed to find him?  Over!"

"I'll think of that, Number 8," the female on the other line said, "You just stay put, and keep your eye on that Urashima woman.  Base, over and out."

***

Inside the hospital radio room, the woman with her blond hair done up in a bonnet, and wearing a lab coat and spectacles, put down the radio receiver, and sighed loudly.

"He's not there, isn't he," another female voice from behind the woman said.  She turned around to see a woman with short black hair, wearing a military uniform with the ranking of Major.

"No," she said, getting up, "From Number 8's observations, he's ether been and left, or he never came home at all."

"Swell," the major said, "I just got word from Number 4, that he's not at his parents house ether.  Damn it, I told you, you should've locked his door, or at least placed a guard on duty outside his room."

"Oh put a sock in it, Major," she snarled, "Maybe you don't have any family members to say good-bye too, but I did.  And besides, the young man had been in a coma for a whole month, and with the power out, and no instrument readings, we never knew when he might wake up."

"Well, he did, and now one of our countries precious living males is no where to be found."

"Well, you won't find him if you're going to blame me."  The lady in the lab coat said.  "The kid woke up while we were all at the mass funereal, end of story.  Let's just concentrate on finding him, instead of pointing fingers, shall we?"

"Okay," The major replied, crossing her arms.  "So, he's not at the Hinata Apartments, and he's not at his parents house.  Any idea's on where we might be able to start?"

"We have one possible lead, but it's a long shot."

"Let's here it."

"Alright, Keitaro is… was the land lord of the Hinata Apartments, where he lives.  Of all the residents of the apartments, one girl, buy the name of…"  She picked up a folder, and flipped through a few pages, before stopping on one in particular.   "Naru Narusegawa.  Some of the surviving staff reported that she seemed rather attached to the boy."

"Hmmm, a love interest?  Where is she now?"

"That is unknown," the doctor answered.  "However, she left a few details behind, including an alternate address in Kyoto."

"So it's possible she might be there?"

"Could be, but I can't give a definite answer."

"I'll have some of my troops check it out.  I'll also give them orders to keep it under watch in case our quarry shows up looking for her."  She smiled, slyly.  "We'll find Keitaro Urashima yet."

***


	2. Of looking for Love: Amoung other things

**"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken bird that cannot fly." **

                                                                   **_-Langston Hughes_****__**

Keitaro took a deep breath, as he heard the sound of foot steps approaching, then straightened himself up tall.

"Go away, there's no food, or medical supplies here?"  came a female voice.  It wasn't Naru's, but he recognised the owner.

Mei.  Naru's younger step sister.

"Mei, it's me, Keitaro!"

"Kei--!?!  KEITARO!?!  No, it can't be!!"  The door was suddenly yanked open faster than Keitaro's eyes could register, and in the doorway, stood Mei…

…armed with a double-barrel shotgun.

"Waaaggghh!"  Keitaro cried out, stumbling backwards as he realised it was level with his sternum.  "Watch were you're pointing that thing!!!"

"Keitaro!?!"  Mei looked up at him with a dumb struck expression on her face.  "But… How?"

"It's complicated, and I don't have the time," Keitaro said quickly as he looked about nervously.  "Can we talk inside, away from the public?"

"Okay," Mei replied, stepping aside, allowing him to enter.  Keitaro quickly rushed inside, and Mei closed the door behind him.  

"Thanks for letting me inside, Mei, and I'm also glad you're still here, and…" he trailed off as he remembered what exactly Mei was carrying.  "Hey, aren't you a little young to handle something like that?"

"Are you gonna try and take it away from me, Keitaro?"  She said with a half smile, as she jabbed him in the stomach with the twin barrels.

"I SAID BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!!!"

"Humph," Mei said pushing past him, "You're still the wimp I remember."  She walked down the hallway, and Keitaro followed.  "So, what exactly are you doing here, anyway?"

"Mei," Keitaro said quickly, as they entered the kitchen, "I need to know, has Naru been here?"

Mei was silent for a few moments.  Then said, "Yes."

"HOT DOG!!!"  Keitaro shouted, and quickly covered his mouth.  "Where is she?"

"It's okay, you can shout all you like, and my mother is out trying to get some food."

"Where's Naru!?!"

"No longer here," Mei replied looking out the window.  "She came here after the plague killed all of the guys, to be with what was left of her family.  Her mother, and myself."

"Your father…?"  Mei closed her eyes and shook her head.  "I—I'm sorry, Mei," Keitaro said softly.

"No, it's okay," Mei replied in an equally soft voice.  "I've gotten over it.  But how the hell did you survive?  I thought the plague killed off all the men?"

"I don't know, Okay," Keitaro stated, "I was in a coma for a month, and when I woke up, everybody was dead!"  He paused, and then asked, "Naru!"  He cried out, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.  "Where's Naru!?!"

"Hey, calm down, okay!"  Mei warned, pointing the gun at his crotch.  

"HEY NOT THERE!!!!"  He shrieked, covering up.

"Heh, calm down, you wimp," she said with a chuckle.  "Naru left when…"

Suddenly, something smashed through the window, and ricochet off the walls.  It landed in the centre of the kitchen spinning around, and bellowing smoke.

"What the hell!?!"  Keitaro cried out.  An acrid smell began to fill his nose, and his eyes began to water.  Tear Gas.  He shoved his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a hanky.  Thrusting it into his nose, and covering his eyes with his free hand, and squinted and tried to look around.

The front door suddenly splintered inwards, and three figures clad in what looked like police riot gear stormed into the house, carrying stun guns.

Mei had covered her nose with her shirt when the smoke bomb burst through the window.  When the commando's entered the kitchen, she acted.  The shotgun was still in her hands, and instinctively, she raised it to her shoulder, and fired both barrels, one after the other at the leading commando's.

The two leading commando's obviously had some sort of Kevlar body armour.  Although it saved their lives, at close range it would've hurt like hell, and those two probably wouldn't be doing much for at least a few hours.  They instantly doubled over, groaning loudly, and fell to the floor, dropping their weapons.  

The third commando was stunned, and she hesitated, her vision flicked back and forth between her two comrades, writhing on the floor, clutching their stomachs and crying out in pain.

It was the distraction Mei was looking for.

"YAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"  With a battle cry she leapt into the air, the empty shotgun raised above her head like a club, much like Motoko, when she moved in for the kill.

The commando fired her gun and the two stingers of the stun gun flew through the air, but Mei twisted through the air in a back flip with much skill, and swinging the butt of the gun around, brought it as hard as she could across the woman's gas mask.

The blow tore it from her face, and she sailed head first into the kitchen wall, where she was knocked out cold.  Or so Keitaro hoped so.  He was relived to see her chest rising and falling.

"Woah!"  Keitaro muttered through his hanky.

"Who the hell are these guys, Keitaro!?!"  Mei cried out, turning to face him.

"What makes you think I know!"  Keitaro shouted back.

Suddenly, Mei cried out in pain, and jerked about, as she fell to the floor.  Standing behind her, was a fourth commando, and the two stingers of her stun gun were sticking into Mei's back.

The woman suddenly looked up from the girl, to Keitaro.  The two looked at each other for a second, before she dived for one of the stun guns on the ground by her wounded comrades.  

Keitaro jumped backwards, and scrambled out of the room.  He raced to the door leading out into the backyard, and flung it open.

"FREEZE!!!"  He stopped dead in his tracks.  The backyard held five female soldiers, aiming handguns at him. 

Just then, he felt something hard press into his back, "Please," a muffled female voice said from behind, "Just come along quietly.  There's no need for violence." 

"Who the hell are you people!?!"  Keitaro cried out.

"We're with the government," the commando said, "And we have to get you to safety."

"But I need to find some one dear to me," Keitaro cried out. 

"Later, kid," the commando replied, as she pulled his hands behind his back, and began to cuff them.  "First things first.  We get you some place safe, then we'll see what we can do about your friend."

The other female troopers moved in from all sides, with their sidearm's pointed at Keitaro.  When he was cuffed, they holstered their weapons, and grabbing him, spun him around, and marched back through the house towards the entrance.

"Wait!"  Keitaro cried out, as he was led past Mei, still laying on the floor, out cold, "You can't just leave her like that.  Hey!!!"  They just marched right past her, not even bothering to look at her.

As they came out the front, a trooper placed a black bag over his head.

"Hey, what the hell!?!"  Keitaro cried out, and started to struggle.  

"It's for your own protection, kid," someone said, "We don't want others to know who you are."  They then hustled him out the front door, and into a waiting transport truck.

"This is group Beta," one soldier said into a walkie-talkie, "We have the package wrapped up and secured.  Over."

"Excellent, work sergeant," another female voice said on the other side.  "I want the package on the next train to Tokyo.  Commandeer a train car, and make sure no civilians see what you're transporting.  Over!"

"Understood, Major," she replied.  "Over and out."  She holstered her walkie-talkie, and watched as the truck pulled out and drove off down the road.

"S-sir?"  The woman turned around, to see one of the wounded commandos's, leaning against a fellow soldier, clutching her stomach.  "What about the civilians?"  She pointed back at the front door.

"Give them a weeks supply of food, and a replacement door, for all the trouble we've caused them," she said with a smile.  "We're the good guys after all, soldier."

***

Keitaro kept his head down the whole time.  All he could see was the black of the bag that they'd covered his face with.  He'd been seated up the far end of the transport, away from the exit flap, so as to keep him as hidden as possible from the public.

At first, he had no idea where they were taking him, but as they drove further on, he was aware of the truck slowing down.  Then, came the sounds of many voices.  Then, a train whistle blew, and he realised he was at the rail yards.

"Can I at least know where you plan on taking me?"  Keitaro asked, as the truck rolled to a stop.

"Tokyo," someone said, "And from now on, I suggest, for your own sake, that you stay quite, until we are on board.  Got it?"  Someone poked him in the ribs with something cold, and hard.  A gun most likely.

"Y-yes mamam!" he squeaked.  He could here the shuffling of boots, as the soldiers all piled out, and then, he was taken out.  He could feel their bodies close to his, as if they were trying to hide him from others.

He was hurried along, nearly tripping on hidden objects that littered the ground, and taken to an unknown spot.

"Okay, right leg up!"  Keitaro was stunned, and he was pushed forward, and someone raised his leg, as he was lead up a short set of metal stairs, then pushed through a door.  Some people filed in after him, and shut the door.

"Sit down," a different voice instructed, and he was pushed down into a plastic covered seat.  He then heard another loud whistle.  A train, he was on a train.  Well Duh!  They took him to the rail yard; of cause he was going to catch a train.

"Can I have this taken off now, please?"  Keitaro asked pointing at the hood over his face.

A hand was at the base of the bag, and it was very quickly yanked off.  Keitaro blinked at the sudden rush of bright light, and he blinked a few times.

"Here," someone said, pushing something hard into his hands, "Your glasses."  He put them on, something very hard to do while wearing cuffs, and looked about.

He was on, what looked like an old subway train car.  There were six female soldiers all sitting around the car at various places, like windows, and exits.  They all carried stun guns, and handguns.

And they were all starring at Keitaro.  

This made him feel very uncomfortable.  He twiddled his thumbs nervously, looked down at the floor, and then looked out a window.

"I would advise against doing that," the closest of the soldiers said.

"Huh?"  Keitaro said turning to face her.  "Why?"

"You're the only living male in the entire city here, kid" she said, looking out the same window.  "There's about six of us, lightly armed, and we're you're only protection.  There's roughly about two hundred females out there, and if they knew you were in here, there's nothing we could do to protect you."

"Oh," Keitaro said, quickly turning away, and looking back down at his shoes.  "Hey, if you're trying to hide me, why in such an open car?"

"We have our orders, to get you on the next train to Tokyo ASAP.  This was all we could get on the spur of the moment."

Two more awkward hours passed, before the whistle of the train blew, and with steady grunts, and the train slowly began to roll froward, and shunted out of the city.

His guards seemed somewhat relieved as this began to happen, and so did Keitaro.

Still, as the city sights began to fade from view, Keitaro couldn't help but sink into depression.  He still had no idea where Naru was, and Mei never got a chance to tell him.  It was positive she knew where her sister was, and if these weekend warriors had bothered just waiting a few more minutes, he would've found out where she was.

He looked for every opportunity to escape from his captors.  But as time dragged on and day dawn turned into Dusk, he began to think weather or not escaping from these guys was such a good idea.

But he had to find Naru.  It's what started him on this journey.  However, they did state that they would let him find Naru later on.  Had they?  All they had said, was 'Later Kid.'

That was it.  Nothing more.  Those words didn't fill him with confidence.  Should he escape?  Could he escape?  So many questions, and not enough answers.  

He thought about it all through the night, and into the early hours of the morning. 

The sun was just starting to come up, showing some rays of sun light over the hills, when the train began to slow down.  The sleeping soldiers were all roused from their sleeps, and rubbed their eyes, and yawned.

"Are we there already?"  Someone asked.

"Can't be," the lead trooper said glancing at her watch, "It's too early.  Something must be wrong."  The train's speed slowed down, and then rolled to a gentle stop.

"Corporal," the lead trooper snapped, "Go see what's wrong."  The soldier nodded, and left, through the car door.  Keitaro yawned loudly, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Are we there yet?"  He asked in a sleepy voice.

"Please, be quite," the lead trooper snapped at him.  "And put that bag back over his head."

"Hey, don't I get--!"  His words were muffled as the bag came back down over his head, and he was pushed down on the seat, to hide him from outside.

After some time, the soldier came back.  "Nothing too serious, sir," she said, "The engineer is just having some minor trouble with the train.  It hasn't been used in over 20 years, and the should have it fixed in at least an hour."

"Fine," the lead trooper said, "But make sure that nobody comes in here."

"Uuhhhh, excuse me?"  Keitaro said from behind the hood.  "Ummm, I gotta use the bathroom."

"What!?!" The woman cried out.  "Now?"

"I just gotta take a whiz, that's all."

She thought about it, and then asked, "What's going on out side?"  A soldier pulled down a window, and looked outside, in both directions.

"Some of the passengers are coming off the train to stretch their legs, sir."

"We can't risk it."

"Well, would you rather I go in here?"  Keitaro pointed at the ground between his feet.  The woman looked at the ground, then back up at his face.

"You've got three minutes," she said with reluctance.  "Find a nice secluded spot, and for God sake, don't attract any attention."  She pointed to all the girls, "Go with him, and make sure he stays hidden."

"Won't that just attract attention?"  Keitaro asked.

"And I can't risk sending you out there all alone."  The woman replied.  "Or risk you getting away."

They all nodded, and pulling up his hood over his head, they cautiously lead him outside.  There were quite a lot of women outside, lying on the grass, looking up at the skies.  As the clouds built up, churning across the landscape like dark ink in water, the air changed, the wind bringing that scent of rain.  

He wasn't given much time to look around; he was quickly hustled into the surrounding trees, away from prying eyes.  The forest made a dangerous dip down, a sharp embankment, and far away from the train, which is why they chose it.  The grass had obviously been rained on, and was wet and slippery.  There were rocks everywhere that were worse, and Keitaro nearly slipped on one of them, only to be saved by one of his guards.  They took him quite far from the train, and down the embankment, and then stopped him.  

In the distance, Keitaro could see that that the forest disappeared down the embankment, towards a gurgling water sound.  Was he near the river?  

"There!"  One girl said, pointing to a large tree that was as thick as the train car he'd been riding inside.  "Make it snappy."  He marched up to the tree, and undid his fly.  The six soldiers then suddenly turned about face, and had their backs to him, forming a cordon around him.

Keitaro sighed and did his business.  It was embarrassing.  Surrounded by girls while taking a pee.  There were the sounds of birds chirping, but the sound he was making was far more dominate.  

"Finished?"  One of the girls asked, turning around once the noise he'd been making had trickled off.

"Hey," he cried out, as he covered up, "A little privacy, here?"

She giggled softly, and then whispered something to the girl next to her, who snickered in reply.

Keitaro's face wrinkled into a huge sulk as he zipped up his fly.  "Ready," he muttered.  The girls all moved apart, and turned around.  As they did so, something moved in the bushes, and something shot up.

The soldiers all spun around, their guns drawn.  There, was a girl with long brown hair, in her mid 20's.  She stood there in utter shock, staring straight at Keitaro.  Someone must have spotted the group leaving the train, and followed out of curiosity.

"Oh, my, God."  She whispered.  "A man!"

"Shit!"  One of the soldiers, swore, and pushed Keitaro behind her, as she side stepped to stand in front of him, blocking his view from the girl.

That was a big mistake.

She obviously forgot her own strength, and pushed Keitaro a little too hard.  He stumbled backwards, and put on foot on a slippery rock.  It was stationery for just half a second, but it suddenly shot out from underneath him, and he fell backwards crying out in alarm.

The soldiers all turned around to see Keitaro rolling head over heals down the steep embankment.

"Khia," someone shouted, "You idiot!!!"  Keitaro tumbled over and over, just barely missing trees.  Finally, his tumbling was halted when he slammed spine first into a tree.

"Arrrggghhh," he cried out, rubbing his back.  Or at least he tried to.  He then realised he still had the cuffs on his wrist.

"Down here!"  He looked back up, and saw the bushes and leaves rustling.  The soldiers were coming after him.  It was then, that he realised he was free.  Adrenaline cleared his mind, and he scrambled to his feet, and plunged back down the hill, running as fast as he could.

The gurgling sound became louder, drawing him forward, and suddenly he came out of the foliage and felt his feet sink into soft earth and saw the dark currents of a river.  Nothing else.  Just a 10-foot wide river.

"There he is!"  He spun around to see one of the soldiers looking and pointing directly at him.  An adrenalin surge hit him and time seemed to freeze, the soldier moving in slow motion.  Keitaro turned and jumped.  All around him, sound seemed to vanish, as he started to curl up into a ball.

He saw the blue surface of the lake, as it seemed to move in slow motion, and then rush straight towards him and shatter, as he plunged into liquid darkness.

Cool water that hadn't had time to be warmed by the morning sun washed over Keitaro.  He dove deep, down into a chill current, wafting waterweeds and natural debris.  Sunlight filtered down, through tannin-tinted waters as he kicked out, aligning himself, following the flow downstream.  The handcuffs attached to his wrist almost undid him.  Unable to breaststroke, Keitaro had to resort to an awkwardly modified dog paddle and if it hadn't been for the current, he probably wouldn't have made it at all.  The cold that stabbed at him through his clothes, threatened to drag him down, the pain encumbered every stroke, but he kept going, past the clutching fractal fingers of sunken logs and trees, the skittering flashes of darting fish. For as long as Keitaro's breath held.

He finally surfaced, gasping, about thirty meters downstream. There were distant shouts, but he was only up long enough to gasp a new lungful of air, then dove again.  He'd been expecting a volley of gunfire. None came, but Keitaro wasn't going to tempt fate.

After another thirty meters he came up again and paused just long enough to tread water while testing the strength of his cuffs.  He was shaking wildly; the adrenaline rush and a flood of everything from sheer terror to pure exultation making his muscles fight each other.  He could still make out the soldiers still upstream, nothing more than blurry objects, starting to vanish from sight around a bend in the river. 

Well, know Keitaro had escaped from his captors, by chance of a shear miracle.  Free once more to look for Naru, the one woman he truly cared about.  But now, he would be chased.  They wouldn't sit still forever.  They would organise some sort of search party.  But the undergrowth along the banks was thick enough that they must've been struggling through it and by then the current had him.  

Keitaro kicked along with it and with every second the smoke from the diesel train shrank further and further until it was lost around the curve in the river.

***

"WHAT!?!"  A fist slammed down on the table, making the radio set jump.  "What do you mean you lost him!?!"

"Exactly what it means, Major," the voice on the other line said, meekly, "He was spotted by a civilian, there was some confusion, and he was separated from his bodyguards."

"And you let him get away?"

"He ran from us, sir," the lady on the other line said in defence.  "And we weren't exactly equipped with the vehicles necessary to look for him."

"What was his last location?"

"50 miles outside of Tokyo, Major," the voice, replied.  "I've already radioed ahead, and sent some helicopters out to look for him."

"Good," the Major snarled.  "Oh, and sergeant, you'd better locate him quick, for your own sake."

There was a long pause, before, "Yes sir.  Over and out."

The Major threw the hand mike at the desk, and growled in frustration.  "Idiots," she snarled.

"Problems, Major Kiska?"  The Major turned to see a woman with her blond hair done up in a bonnet, and wearing a lab coat and spectacles.

"Oh, Shut up, Dr. Mela," she snapped back at her.  "I'm under a lot of stress at this particular point in time, I don't need wise ass civvies giving me a hard time."

"Well, now you know how it feels, Major," Mela answered, walking into the room.  "You have your own problems, and so do I.  Maybe now you'll come to appreciate the miracles we women are managing to pull off."

"It's easy for you to say," Major Kiska groaned, burying her face into her right hand.  "I have my orders from Tokyo, and these are marked with the highest priority.  Failure is not an option."

"What are you saying?"  Dr. Mela asked, one eyebrow raised.

"It's what I'm saying, Doctor."  Major Kiska said.  "What's left of the government made their message to me clear.  They want Keitaro's head, or mine."

"What!?!"  Mela was completely taken back.  "T-they can't be serious, can they?"

"They can, and I see their logic, too."  Major Kiska said, as she stared of into space.  "The whole world has changed, now, Dr.  The rules of the survival games have been torn up, and re-written."

"I don't understand."  Dr. Mela said.  "There are other males still alive out there.  And we're finding more survivors with every passing week."

"One male every two weeks is not something to jump for joy over Doctor.  That'll soon stop, in fact, I think it has already." Major Kiska replied.  "Then, we'll have to repopulate the country."

"So?"  Mela said with a shrug.  "So will every other country around the world.  What's the big worry?" 

"Numbers," Major Kiska answered.  "Who ever has the most males, will repopulate the fastest."

"We don't need the boys for that, Major," Mela said with a snorting laugh.  "We have artificial insemination capabilities."

"But that requires one ingredient."  The Major said, pointing a finger at her.  "Sperm.  And how long before our supplies run out?  That's when we need the boys, Dr."  She paused for effect.  "And so will other countries."

"And?"

"And," Major Kiska replied, "The more males we have, the more leverage and political power we gain in the world."

"You don't mean…?"  Dr. Mela trailed off, as Major Kiska nodded.

"Exactly."  She said.

"Oh, great!"  Dr. Mela cried out, as she threw up her hands.  "All the men die, but at least we get a whole new Cold War started.  This is insane!"  She thumped the wall in frustration.  "Damn, it's Dr. Strangelove with a vengeance."

"Now you understand why I must do what it is I'm doing?"

"No," Dr. Mela snapped, "All I see is a recipe for a Third World War.  International race's for supremacy have lead to nothing but destruction, Major, it's bound to happen all over again."

"Ahhh, but that was with the men in charge."  She smiled.  "We women will be different."

"We may be women, Major," Dr. Mela said, "But we're still damn human.  And all humans are greedy.  They will always want more."

"You worry too much, Doctor."  Major Kiska said.  "The future will prove you wrong."

"But history, will prove me right!"  Dr. Kiska snapped back.  "Give it time, Major, give it time, and you will see."  Then, she turned about, and stormed out.

***

The river followed the soft land. Over the millennia it'd carved its way through the sedimentary forest, through the soft loam of the rolling countryside, following the path of least resistance.  Where it did meet it, it flowed around, describing a serpentine path across the landscape.  There was a spur of land that was of some harder stuff: A deposit of some tougher geological outcropping the river had worked its way around.

Keitaro Urashima dragged himself through sodden marsh and waterweed that sucked at his legs before he reached something like solid ground.  It was a rock, a slab the size of a car.  Keitaro just collapsed onto it, utterly exhausted, and lay there in the hot sunlight, coughing.  His muscles felt like overcooked pasta. 

In any movie involving river travel, there's a waterfall.  Doesn't matter if it's in the middle of Japan, there's a waterfall.  It's one of those Hollywood rules.

Real life wasn't that melodramatic.  The worst Keitaro had to deal with were rapids.  They weren't white water, but they'd been bad enough.  The river had seemed like a good idea.  He'd managed to snag a waterlogged piece of wood that'd made an acceptable float to hang onto while the current carried him along.  That'd worked… for a while.  He'd been able to watch the passing landscape – hills, water meadows and lush forests – and try and figure out where the hell he was.  Heading east, that was as best he could tell.  If his captors had been taking him south, then by heading east he could hit anything from the shores of the North Pacific on down.  He'd passed a couple of smaller tributaries flowing into the river and that was good: it'd be something else to slow his pursuers down.

Provided they were following by foot.  If they followed by air, then that was a completely different story.

About eight kilometres downstream the riverbanks had gotten much closer and steeper, the river much faster and much deeper, all surprisingly quickly.  Before He'd really known it, the still water turned turbulent enough to make things very difficult and Keitaro's makeshift float wasn't helping very much.  Normally, it wouldn't have been a problem, but with his clothes all water logged, and dragging him down it took everything I had just to stay afloat.  When he finally drifted into that eddy at the bend in the river, Keitaro was more than ready to crawl out and collapse.

Sprawled on that sun-warmed rock he lost track of time.  Exhausted, he just closed my eyes and let the world spin around him while he caught his breathe and slowly warmed again.  It was when Keitaro found himself starting to drift off that he work with a start.  He couldn't wait around.  He didn't know how long he had, but they'd be after him, Keitaro didn't have any doubt about that.

Keitaro scrambled to the top of the riverbank and then struggled through tangled bush and scrub up the small rise to the crest of the hill on the river bend.  It wasn't high, but offered a bit of a view.  Facing east, with the river at his back, he could see hills rising all around.  The river was in a small valley, stretching northeast to south, the sides green with forest and meadows.  How far had he come? Perhaps ten kilometers?  How far did he have to go?  Keitaro didn't have the faintest idea.  Perhaps from the valley edge he'd see some sign of civilization.

It was near noon on a clear and sunny day.  A breeze rippled the grasses in hillside meadows.  Choruses of hidden insects rasped, birds twittered and swooped.  Keitaro was hungry, freezing wet, handcuffed and completely lost.

He sighed loudly, and then headed off east, towards the hills.

And from up there on the lip of the valley Keitaro saw nothing but more nothing.  More meadows dotted with bright spring flowers, more woods and swatches of forest: evergreen pines and oaks and beech and birch covering gentle hills.  No houses, roads or even thread of smoke.  Down behind him, the dark river flowed along in its little valley.

The land wasn't flat coastline plains; nor was it geography twisted and knurled by geology like paper crumpled up.  It was scrub and meadows and forest clinging to rolling hills.  Geography that'd been scoured and ground millennia ago by unimaginably huge sheets of ice that'd strolled south and incidentally rearranged the face of the planet.

He stood there in his soaked, water logged clothes and felt utterly vulnerable and more than a little concerned as he looked around from horizon to horizon.  There were options.  He could head back upstream where he'd be certain to meet his captors and that would at least ensure he wouldn't starve or freeze out in the wilderness.  Or he could head east and hope to hit civilization… of some kind. 

Somewhere.  Or He could go northeast, following the river, which was probably a tributary into the Pacific Ocean.  There'd be towns or cities there, coastal traffic heading southwards.  After weighing things, he deemed it a safer bet than simply aiming east.

So, North East it was.

Keitaro started half jogging a few hundred meters, then walking.  It was a pace he should have been able to keep up for hours.  It was the way he'd started jogging back at the Hinata Apartments.  But that had been without a few water soaked clothes weighing him down.  With the handcuffs on Keitarto couldn't swing his arms in time properly; the metal around his wrists moved at opposites to his motion and started chafing - uncomfortably at first, then painfully.  Keitaro spent an hour or so trying to get the cuffs off by hammering at the chain links with a rock to try and break it.  After half an hour all he ended up with was a pile of broken rocks and a bruised thumb.  Whoever had designed them hadn't been an idiot.  He'd need proper tools to get the things off.

Giving up on that - at least until he had a better idea - Keitaro kept going.  He filled time by humming, simple little cadences while he travelled.  The Proclaimers kept him amused for a while, then the Great Escape theme, and then a host of other little ditties remembered from a world ago.  

There were animals around, though Keitaro didn't have close encounters with anything more threatening than a pair of squirrels that chattered furiously at him from a tree trunk as he passed.  Deer grazed the meadows.  And a family of foxes that watched him from the safety of bushes that were far away from him.  Keitaro took the opportunity to drink at the river before swimming across and pushing on.  

And on and on.  

Cresting one hill to see another, and then yet another stretching away before you can be demoralizing to say the least.

And if he'd been uncomfortable during the day, that night he really hated his wet clothes. 

When the sun sank behind the hills to the west, the temperature sank with it.  Stars came out.  Multitudes upon multitudes of them smeared across the heavens in a great pale wash.  The crescent of the moon climbed above the horizon: a sliver of light that could hide behind the fingernail of my pinky.  And it was dark.  A pale glow came from the sky, from the stars and moon, but otherwise there was nothing. No lamps or fires visible, just dark and darkness.  Meadows and open spaces were vague stretches of faint luminescence under the sky, trees and woods were swatches of impenetrable blackness.  

Keitaro was reduced to fumbling his way across ground he couldn't see, stumbling over stones and roots and fallen branches.  And it was getting colder.

Shivering and mostly blind Keitaro hunted for shelter.  Crawling under a low tree, he broke and tore leafy branches and laid them out in a makeshift mattress.  It poked and scratched and the leaves leaked sap, but it was insulation against the cold ground.  Not much, but a bit.

Keitaro huddled and shivered and felt bugs biting and yearned for a warm bed, tasting a banquet of hot meals in his mind, and began to wonder weather escaping was such the brilliant idea it had first been.  Some time later on the howl of a wolf rose in the distance.  The howl that answered it was a lot closer.

Keitaro really didn't get a lot of sleep. 

***

Somewhere in the broad, empty reaches of the ocean, not far off the coast of Japan, a long, lean shark shape drew very near the surface of the sea.  But it was vaster than any shark, vaster than any whale – and neither sharks nor whales evolved with conning towers on their backs.

This conning tower never broke the surface.  No satellite, no airplane that chanced to be peering down on that particular stretch of sea, could have found a name or nation to attach to the submarine.  All cats are grey in the dark.  All submarines look very much alike, seen underwater from above.

A radio mast rose.  Ever so briefly, it ploughed a tiny white wake in warm, blue-green water.  Then it slid down again, down into silence, down into anonymity.  The submarine dove deep.

***

Keitaro don't think he'd ever been so glad to see a dawn before.

Birdsong greeted the brightening of the sky.  A mackerel sky glowed pink as the sun stroked the high clouds from beyond the horizon, lower formations still grey shadow.  Keitaro moved to rub his face and groaned: he was stiff and sore and covered in dew and freezing. There was nothing for him there, so as soon as he could see he started off again, limping and hobbling at first as he forced protesting muscles to just perform the simple act of walking.

When the sun rose high enough for him to get some direct sunlight that was pure bliss.  In that moment he could see why so many human cultures had worshipped the sun.  The warmth, the light, the sheer feeling of relief after the chill and fear of the night... that was something you have to experience to understand.  That was also a moment that helped solidify his belief that those back-to-nature fanatics were a bunch of blithering cretins who should try experiencing real nature for a while.

Keitaro was getting more than his fill of it.

For another day he walked.  Through bush and scrub, pushing through the tangles of trees and undergrowth that clustered into woods and forests, across broad hillside meadows alive with grass and spectacular wildflowers and darting insects.  Keitaro saw deer down at the river's edge, cropping placidly at water plants.

And his stomach reminded him it could do with some food.

He found berries of several kinds.  Most of them were so bitter when he carefully tested them on his tongue that he had to spit them out. Keitaro did find some berries that were palatable, but only a small handful.  They weren't very filling.  Finding more would mean spending time and energy hunting them down.   He could spend hours covering just a small area looking.  There were mushrooms that he broke apart and touched a bit to his tongue, and then spat at the bitter taste.  He decided to press on, hoping He'd find more edibles enroute.

As the day went on Keitaro moved further downstream.  If there'd been a road or a track it'd have been easy going.  Pushing through the undergrowth both slowed him down and scratched the hell out of his face.  The only consolation was that if it was that tough for him, it'd be just as hard for his pursuers.  In vehicles, they couldn't get through that sort of undergrowth and on foot they couldn't keep up the pace he could.

But they probably had food.

He kept going, following that river.

Midday came and went.  The sun wasn't as harsh as it'd been the previous day.  In fact, Keitaro realized the clouds were building up. The wind was blowing in from the south, the patches of blue in the sky growing fewer and fewer as clouds scudded by overhead.  Every so often the sun was lost behind cloud, the world suddenly becoming cooler.  The storm that he'd left behind was catching up with him.  That wasn't such a concern: Keitaro was getting enough exercise to keep himself quite warm.

As the hours went by the wind died and when it picked up again it'd changed direction, turning into a brisk and cool westerly.  Trees rocked back and forth, their massed movements sounding like surf on a shingle beach.  The cloud cover got heavier, turning the afternoon gloomy.  It looked like rain might be lurking around, but it was only when Keitaro crested a hill that gave him a view that he cursed out loud.

To the west and north the horizons were black with towering thunderheads.

Perfect.

Keitaro tried to make better time, but didn't hold much hope.  He didn't know where he was going, so hurrying just meant he was going nowhere faster.  He just tried to pick up the pace.  More hours and scenery passed while he watched the world change with a sort of resigned fascination.  As the clouds built up, churning across the landscape like dark ink in water, the air changed, the wind bringing that scent of rain.  Late afternoon light washed over forests and met the banks of clouds to produce glorious and unnatural colours.  Purple haze shrouded the horizon; patches of sun-gold grasses turned incandescent as spears of light reached through gaps in the bruise-coloured thunderheads that banked and built, roiling in incredibly slow motion.  Not really slow, just on a monumental scale.  Slanting columns of darkness connected the clouds to the land, following them along.  In those columns and clouds along the horizon were flickers of light.  Not regular, but like staccato flashbulbs under the bulk of the growing storm.

It was going to be a bad one.

Sunlight was waxing and waning as clouds built.  Gloom was interrupted by sparse moments of golden light as the building storm shifted restlessly, the setting sun finding fewer and fewer chinks in the overcast.  Keitaro realized it was going to get dark prematurely that evening as he crossed a small meadow, aiming for a dense-looking forest where he might have been able to find some sort of shelter.  Then, in the middle of a field, he paused.  He thought he'd seen something, to the south against the black of the storm. There was something there: a small grey pillar rising up from the trees against the oncoming wall of rain and thunder. It looked like… it couldn't be.

Keitaro swore it was.  That was why he went northeast.  Thunderheads were spilling overhead, backlit by the setting sun.  In the deepening gloom lighting strobed amongst the hills, then thunder grumbled.  The haze below the clouds marched toward him, but the outriders of the storm were already there.  Fat raindrops pattered against dusty ground, against grass and leaves.

Keitaro sighed, and then set off in the direction of the smoke, slowly raising form the tree tops.  As the sunset on his second day of freedom, the storm broke.  

The clouds closed in like a lid dropped over the world.  He couldn't see a damn thing.  Rain hammered down out of the darkness in sheet after sheet.  It poured off leaves and branches.  It gathered in rivulets that merged and turned into small streams crisscrossing the ground.  Gusts of wind drove the rain almost horizontally at times, nearly solid walls of water hailing in from the gloom.  The indistinct shapes of trees bowed to and fro, shaking with the wind.  Every so often a lightning strike would fill the world with a flare of light that froze flash-frames of wind-whipped trees and left afterimages floating in his vision for seconds afterwards.  Thunder rumbled with an intensity Keitaro could feel.

Keitaro groped on through the darkness, slipping on mud and grass that seemed as slick as oil.  Water ran in streams through his hair, down his face, and fogged up his glasses.  That downpour was nothing like some warm spring shower, rather it was a deluge that felt ice cold.  Keitaro held his backpack up before him, not in a futile attempt to stay dry, but just to try and block the barrage of condensing atmosphere droplets the size of peas that came in like bullets out of the dark, bursting across his face.  

Ground that'd been dusty dry that morning turned to cold viscous ooze that that constantly threatened to make his shoes slip out from under him.  In that storm, in the wind and rain and darkness Keitaro could have stumbled past an entire town and missed it completely.  Shivering and shaking, he just kept moving in the same direction, the direction the smoke was coming from.

When he ran into the log blocking his path he first thought it was a fallen tree.  When he tried to go around Keitaro found it was attached to a post and there was another, then another.  They were just rows of crudely cut rails stacked atop one another, but there wasn't much doubt it was a fence.  Beyond… He squinted into the teeth of the storm and could make out the shapes of cows materialized from the sleeting rain.  A clanking of cattle bells was audible over the noise of wind and rustling trees as the animals shied away from me.  A farm.  It was a farm.  That meant food, warmth, and shelter.

With a renewed sense of purpose Keitaro followed the fence.

It wasn't too far.  He found a corner of the fence and a crude gate.  The ground there was churned by milling animal hooves, the rain pooling and turning it to sludge.  Through sheets of rain a faint light shone.

There was a farmhouse.  A small two-story building and through the cracks in a shuttered window a light glowed: just a small lamp or candle.

Out in the storm Keitaro stared at it and dripped and shivered and yearned.

Yes, there'd be food, there'd be shelter, but there'd also be women.     

Standing there in the pouring rain, Keitaro began to wounder weather this was such a good idea.  Lightning flashed, rippling across the sky.  Suppose the soldiers had been here?  Suppose they thought they could turn him in? Or, more likely, they'd keep him for themselves. 

So he stared longingly at the light in the window, weighing his choices.  No, he'd come too far to risk it.

There was a barn.  It reminded Keitaro of those hey loft barns he'd seen in movie from the US about a family trying to survive the depression of the 1930's, but it was a relief just to get out of the driving storm.  So, ducking his head down, ran across to the barn, and struggled to open it's big, double wooden doors.

Inside, it was divided into four stalls with a hayloft.  Rain drummed on the roof and dribbled through cracks and holes to patter on the dirt floor.  A pair of horses in the right hand stalls grunted and shifted uneasily when he entered, milling and moving away from him.  The left-hand-most stall was filled with hay: animal feed or roofing material or something. 

A few hours.  Just a few hours out of rain and wind, and then he'd move on.  That's what Keitaro told himself as he climbed the ladder to the hayloft.  Once up there, he moved into the far back, laid the pack aside and collapsed onto the hay.  The straw itched, it jabbed and scratched at his face, but after what he'd been through Keitaro hardly noticed.  It was soft, and after he'd half-burrowed into it, it kept the wind off and actually started to feel warm.  A flash of lightning lit the sky outside, stripes of light glaring through the cracks between the ill-fitting planks in the walls.

Hiding from the law in a hayloft barn. That's where bandits, and Wild West outlaws went to die.  Keitaro thought back to those old western movies and while he huddled there the night sky was lit in another flash, just for a split second, and that was the last Keitaro remembered of that night.

**MEANWHILE: IN A DISTANT SKY…**

As night time settled over a different part of the Asian continent, the local wildlife settled in for their long sleep.  The few nocturnal animals were starting to emerge from their hiding places, and began to hunt and scavenge for food, that would last them through to the next day.

The peaceful night air is now alive with the sound of crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and owls hooting.

A single buzzing noise suddenly begins to rise over the sound of all the other racket of the night.  Low and unimportant at first, but it get inexorably louder.  

As the buzzing sound begins to drown out the normal noises of the night, a black shape begins to register against the almost dark black starry sky.  In the glow of the moonlight, a twin piston engine cargo plane flies low over the landscape, in the direction of Japan.

It zooms in low, and flies off, leaving the natural noises to once more, make themselves heard.

**THE NEXT MORNING…**

The first thing Keitaro was aware of was the warm sensation of sunlight streaming through and spilling across his closed eyes.  He sighed happily, and rolled over, dragging some sheets with him.

He snuggled into the pillow, and wrapped the sheets around him as he let himself sink into the soft mattress.

Soft mattress!?!

His eyes shot open fast than spinning slots.  He saw a small bedside table with a pot plant on it.  He blinked a few more times, before shooting upright.

He was no longer in the hayloft, but in a bed, in a room…  inside a house.

"Well, hello there."  Keitaro froze, then his head slowly turned to the left, from where the voice had come from.  It was a young girl, perhaps just a little older than he was with light brown hair, that was very short, much like Kitsune's.  She wore a long sleaved shirt with blue denim jeans, and small woollen slippers.

"W-who are you!?"  He stammered out.  "Where am I, and how the hell did I get here!?!"

"Whoa," she said, holding out an arm, as if to comfort him, "Slow down, there, Keitaro."

"Hey, how did you know my name?"  She reached into her pocket, and placed a small book on another bedside table.

"It was on your prep book ID"

"Oh," Keitaro said, taking it and sliding it into his pocket.  However, he didn't have any pockets.  He wasn't even wearing his jeans.  "Waauugghh!!"  He cried out, as he realised his jeans weren't the only thing that was missing.  "What did you do with my underpants!?!"

"They were wet and beginning to smell, Keitaro," she replied, blushing, and turning away slightly.  "I hope you don't mind, but I put them in the wash."

"Uhh, thanks, I think," Keitaro replied, scratching his head.  "Hey, how did I end up here?"

"You must've fallen asleep in our barn," the woman said, "I found you up there early this morning, you were out like a light."

"Barn?"  Keitaro muttered.  Then, he remembered everything.  "Oh yeah, that's right.  I hope you don't mind."

"I don't," she said with a smile, and moved her chair closer to him.  "In fact, I'm really glad you came, Keitaro."

"Oh, r-really?"  Keitaro swallowed the lump in his throat, and then asked, "And can I ask who you are?"

"Heh," she giggled, and blushed again.  "I'm Liu Han."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Han," Keitaro said nervously.

Liu giggled.  "It's alright, Keitaro," she said, patting his closest leg through the sheets, "I'm not going to bit."

"It's not the bitting I'm worried about," Keitaro said, inching some more away from her, "It's… something else."

"Oh, trust me, Keitaro," Liu replied, "I'm not that kind of girl."

"I know," Keitaro muttered, "It's just that…"  The words Haruka had told him began to play through his mind.

_"Don't trust anybody you don't already know."_

"I'm not sure…"  Keitaro paused in mid sentence.  Would it be wise telling this girl that he didn't trust her?  What if he upset her?  Offended her?  She was being nice to him, but was it just to lull him into a false sense of security, in order for something much more nastier?

"Not sure about what?"  She asked with a warm smile, "Not sure about weather you can trust me?"

"No!  NO!  That's not w-what I mean!!!"  Keitaro franticly waved his arms about trying to dissolve that meaning.  "I, I just…!  Ugh!"  He sagged as a sweat droplet rolled down his head.  "It's true, Ms. Han," he moaned, "It was the last thing my Aunt told me before I left.  Don't trust anybody I don't know."

"Well, Keitaro," she said, reaching out and taking hold of his hand, "She's not here, is she."  She began rubbing her thumb over his hand, causing Keitaro to calm down.  "And if you're worried about me turning you over to the soldiers, you needn't worry about that."

"Huh?"  Keitaro was surprised.  "How do you know about that?"

"They were here about three days ago, looking for you.  We were promised a huge reward if I reported your whereabouts to them."

"Oh," Keitaro said, and suddenly said, "We?"

"Oh, I live here with my grandmother," she said looking at the door.  "She's downstairs, making you some breakfast.  It should be ready very soon."

*Wow,* Keitaro thought to himself, *She's such a nice girl, and so kind to strangers.  I wish…*

"Oh my God," Keitaro suddenly cried out, "Naru!!"  

"Huh?"  Liu said, a worried expression on her face.  "Who's Naru?"

"A… girl, I was looking for," Keitaro muttered, shaking his head.  "It was the whole reason I started out from my home, to find her."  He drew up his legs, and let his head rest on his knees.  "I went to Kyoto, to find her.  It was the only place I knew where to look.  But the soldiers somehow knew I would be there.  They were waiting for me, and ambushed me, before I could find out where she was."

Liu simply nodded, her face was expressionless.

"And now, I can't go back, for they'll be watching her house like a hawk now, and I'll never find her."

"It's okay, Keitaro, really," Liu said in a soothing voice, as she patted his shoulder.  "I'm sure you'll find her.  I bet there are other leads for you to go on."

"You think so?"  He asked, lifting his head a little.

"Of cause," she said, "But you can't go out right away and start looking, I mean, the soldiers are still prowling the country side, and you've been running around in wet clothes in a storm.  I think you should rest a few days before starting out."

"Gee, thankyou Ms. Han," Keitaro said with a smile.

"Please, Keitaro," she said, cupping her hands around his closest hand, "Call me Liu."

"Thankyou, Liu," he said.

"Now, why don't you rest here, and I'll go and see if your breakfast is ready yet?"  She pushed his head back, pushing him back down onto the bed.

"Okay, Liu," he said, as she covered him back up with the sheets.  "You know, you really don't have to go through all this trouble just for me."

"Oh," Liu said blushing, "I… I'm just like my grandmother, always fussing over this and that.  It's just the way I am.  Now, you just rest up there, and I'll be back soon."

She then gently closed the door behind her, keeping her eyes on him until the door was closed.  Once closed, her sweet features vanished, and her face twisted into a horrible scowl.

*Damn it,* she thought to herself.  *He already has a girlfriend.  Of all the rotten, in your face, luck.  I finally find a man, a pretty cute one at that, and he's already taken.*  A sly smile spread across her face, as she suckled evilly to herself.  *Very well then, I guess I'm going to have to turn on all my best charms, and make Keitaro forget all about her.  Buy the this time next week, he won't even remember her name, and he'll be all mine.*

She tiptoed down the stairs, giggling like a maniac.

***


	3. New freinds, and old Can't say that too ...

**"If you love something, let it go. If it comes back it's yours. If it doesn't, hunt it down and kill it."   
                                    - Axident  
  
**

"Ugggh, Ooooh, God, please… No more!"  Keitaro groaned.

"Awwww, come on," Liu said, "Just a little more."

"No, please," Keitaro said, "I'm full as it is."  He put the plate aside on the table next to him.  "Man, that was very good.  You're grandmother is an excellent cook, Liu."

"She would love to here that, Keitaro," Liu said.  

"Say," Keitaro said, "I never got to ask, but, where am I?"

"Our farm is just a few kilometres outside of Noda City, Keitaro," Liu said.  "But don't worry, we haven't had any visitors out here since before the plague."

"Okay," Keitaro said.  

"Why don't you just relax and I'll bring you up some coffee."

"Coffee?"  Keitaro said, almost in shock.  He hadn't had coffee in… well, far too long.  "You guys have coffee?"

"Of cause," Liu said with a pleasant smile.  "It's expensive to buy now, but people do manage to find coffee to sell, and we do run a farm, so we trade for a lot of things that we don't have."

"Oh," was all Keitaro said.  "It's just that, I've been on a bare minimum of luxury goods ever since I left the Hinata Apartments, just trying to survive."  He sighed, and lowered his gaze.  "I've been on the run for so long, I've forgotten what life was like before the plague."

"Don't feel bad, Keitaro," Liu replied, walking over and putting an arm around his shoulder, half hugging him.  "Out here, we are very secluded, and you won't have to worry about people spotting you.  You can walk around outside, without fear of discovery," as she said that, she turned Keitaro's head to look out the window.  "Although we live a few kilometres outside the city, you'll be safe here.  Out here, you can live again, Keitaro."

Out side, it was still grey skies, but the rain was only lightly falling down.  "Wow," he muttered, "To live again."  He hadn't wanted to think about it, but it was something he'd taken for granted.  To be able to blend into the background, to just be another face in the crowd.  In the past, he'd had wished he could be anyone but himself, now he wanted that old life back more than ever.

"I'll go get you a coffee now, Keitaro," Liu said, getting up slowly.  Her fingers trailed down his arm as she pulled away, attempting to prolong their contact as long as possible.  "You just keep resting here, and I'll be back as soon as possible," she said as she backed out of the room and closed her door, peeking through the crack until the door was completely closed.

Outside, she turned around and did a 'Yes,' manoeuvre.  Then, giggling to herself, raced down the stairs as fast as she could, making as little sound as possible. 

***

"Where the hell is our man!?!"

The soldiers shifted uncomfortably in their wet gear.  Even with the rain pontoons on, they were still wet from the enormous downpour, not to mention, cold, and hungry.  In front of them, Major Kiska paced back and forth, like a caged animal.

"We tried our best, Major," one of the soldiers said, "But the storm has been hindering our efforts.  And with the weather as bad as it is, air traffic control isn't letting one single aircraft up into the skies until things clear down."

"By then, he'll be somewhere else in Japan, or quite possibly in the hands of another country."  She gripped her forehead in frustration, and let out a low throaty growl.  "God, you people are imbeciles!!!"

"With all due respect, Major," one of the soldiers said, "My troops have been out there nearly 24/7 looking for this guy, and haven't had three square meals per day."  She then pointed behind her without taking her eyes of Major Kiska.  "Half my platoon out there is starving and freezing wet.  I'm more concerned with looking after my troops first, and my orders, second."

Major Kiska just stared at her, almost boring into the back of the soldier's skull with her eyes.  "You're out of line, soldier," she said.  "I understand the plight of your soldiers, but if you ever take that tone of voice with me again…"  She uncrossed her arms, and let one hand purposely rest on her sidearm.

The soldier's eyes flickered form the major, to the gun, and back again.  "Understood, Major."  Was all she said.

"Excellent," Major Kiska said with a nod.  "Dismissed."  She saluted them, and they her, and walked off, chattering amongst themselves.

"Finding it hard to control your own troops, Major?"  Major Kiska spun around at the sound of the voice.

"Dr Mela?"  She said in shock, "What the hell are you doing here?  I thought you were supposed to be in Tokyo?"

"I was," Dr. Mela said with a shrug, "But then, I got this over the wireless."  She handed a printed sheet of paper to Major Kiska, who snacked it out of her hands, and scrutinised it closely.  

It basically said that because of the fact that Dr. Mela had spent time overseeing Keitaro when he was in a coma, and she was familiar with him, that she was to be assigned to Major Kiska's unit as they looked for him.

"Wonderful," she said tossing it into the nearest trashcan.

"Just for the record, Major," Dr. Mela said as she took a seat, "I can't stand the sight of you ether.  So lets just forget everything and concentrate on looking for Keitaro."

"That's great, Dr." Kiska replied, "As usual, you present the most wonderful ideas, and as usual, you present no realistic way of fulfilling them."  She began pacing about again.  "We've run out of leads on where Keitaro might be."

"Jesse, Major," Dr. Mela said backing of a bit.  "No offence, but you really should get another profession before you suffer a hart attack."

"I'm stressed enough as it is, Doctor," Major Kiska said groaning into her hands.  "I've got this runaway male to worry about, along with government reps hanging over my shoulder, as well as foreign threats to my mission."

"Huh?"

"Some fishermen – sorry, fisherWOMEN, have been reporting sightings of a submarine of the coast."

"Excuse me?"  Dr. Mela said.  "A what?"

"A submarine."  Major Kiska repeated.  

"Any idea who?"

"Well, let's consider this, there are only three countries in the world, that had women serving onboard submarines before the plague hit."  She held up three fingers, and counted them off as she went through each country.  "Norway, Sweden, and Australia."

"I see," Dr. Mela mussed.  "So, due to distance apart from countries, I take it the first two are eliminated from the suspects list?"

"Which then makes me toss and turn at night, wondering what the hell the Australian's are doing all the way up here."

"Keitaro?"

"Well, yes and no," Major Kiska said, with a shrug.  "Although we have no proof that their intentions are to steal Keitaro, or any of our other surviving males away from us, we can't rule that out as a possible motive.  After all, why the hell would one of their precious few submarines be all the way up here?  That's why I'm concerned about this matter."  She then waved another hand around in a circular motion.  "However, if they aren't here to steal our males, then what are they here to do?"

"There's that damn cold war sneaking up again, Major."  Dr. Mela warned with the waving of her index finger.  "International races for supremacy lead to nothing but trouble."

"Oh, for the love of God, Doctor," Major Kiska said, slapping her hands to her face, and drawing them down her face in annoyance.  "If you're going to be stuck on me like glue, please try to be part of the solution instead of the problem!"  She then waved a free hand in the air, trying to change the subject.  "How about helping me find some new links to finding Keitaro?"

"What about that Naru…"

"The Naruseawa girl seems to have just dropped of the face of the earth, for all we know," the Major replied, throwing her hands up into the air.  "And what's left of her family won't talk, despite our best bribes."  

"Well," Dr. Mela said, "He has to be somewhere, nothing can just vanish without a trace.  Plus, he's gotta eat something, and it's not like he can just simply walk into the nearest fast food joint and order something to go."

"And your point is?"

"Someone's hiding him."

"Are you sure, Major?"  Mela asked.

"The man has absolutely no survival skills what so ever.  He couldn't make a camp fire if you gave him a flamethrower and gasoline."

"Okay, you've got that part worked out, so where could he be hiding?"

"His last known whereabouts reported that he was following with the river current he jumped into.  So that means, he would've been heading north, north east."

"What's the nearest city to where he disappeared?"

Major Kiska was already unfolding a map, and laying it down on a fold-up table, so both she and the doctor could see.  "I already have some troops in that area, Dr."  She said, pointing to the blue line on the map.  "Keitaro jumped into the Tone Gawa river, here."  She pointed to the area circled in red.  "Just fifty miles north west of Tokyo.  The river flows just north of Tokyo, and empties into the Pacific at the port city of Choshi."

"But it's unlikely that he went that far?"

"Precisely."  Major Kiska said.  "Which means he must have abandoned the river some where around about here."  She stabbed at the map, and her finger landed not far away from a black dot, which represented a city.

"Noda?"  Dr. Mela said.

"So it would seem, doctor," The major said.  "I'll have some troops check around the area.  Something as big as a living male shouldn't be too hard to keep a secret."

***

Keitaro stared wide eyed at the steaming hot cup in his hands.  The smell that wafted from it almost made his mouth water.  It was coffee.  Honest to God coffee.  There was a smell he thought he'd never experience again.

"Mmmmmmm," he hummed, as he drew in the smell.  "Just the way I like it."

"I'm glad that you like it so, Keitaro," Liu said, as she sat on the bed next to him.  "And you can have more, when ever you feel like it."

"Gee, Liu," Keitaro said, after taking his first mouthful after what seemed like an eternity, "You're so kind to me, I wish all the girls had been this kind to me, before the plague hit."

"All the girls?"  Liu said, almost in shock.

"Before the plague," Keitaro began, as he put down the cup, and turned to face Liu.  "I was the apartment manager of an all girls dormitory, called the Hinata Apartments.  However, they were always beating up on me, pulling pranks, and sticking me with bills…"

"Dear, God, why didn't you leave!?!"

"Because I had no where else to go, that's why," Keitaro muttered, "My parents kicked me out of their house, and I was trying to get into Tokyo University.  The place belonged to my grandmother, but she went off jet setting…"  Keitaro trailed off.

"Something wrong, Keitaro?"

"Granny," Keitaro said softly, "I'd forgotten about her.  Gee, I hope she's doing okay."  The plague wouldn't have killed her.  But she would be stranded somewhere in the world.

"I'm sure she's doing just fine, Keitaro," Liu said, stroking his hair with a free hand.  "But if you go running of and trying to find her, you could get yourself killed, or worse."

Haruka had said those very same words to him.  Haruka.  God, it'd seemed like a century since he'd last seen her.  It'd seem even longer since he'd seen the whole gang.

Since he'd seen Naru.

"Keitaro?"  He never heard Liu the first time, but when she placed a hand on his, he turned to face her as she spoke again.  "Keitaro?  Are you okay?"

*What do I do?*  Keitaro thought to himself.  *Liu has been so kind to me, in fact, I probably wouldn't be alive if not for her.  So what should I tell her?*

"Keitaro?"

"Liu," Keitaro said gently.  "I…"

That was about as far as he got, before there was a loud rapping noise downstairs.  Then, an old female voice called out, "Hey, Liu, the kids clothes are ready!"

"Thanks grandma!"  She called out to the door.  "Just wait right here, Keitaro," she said, getting of the bed, "I'll be back."  Then, she was gone.

"Damn it," Keitaro hissed, slapping the bed sheets, "This is just getting more awkward with every passing second.  What the hell do I do?  If I don't say something fast, then it's going to be harder to tell her that I have to leave to look for Naru."

Outside, Liu rested one ear against the door.  She was listening to every word Keitaro said.  Her eyes narrowed, as she heard what he'd just said.  Slowly, she moved away, and walked down the stairs, in a cold silence.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, an elderly woman appeared, carrying a basket of dirty clothes, obviously for the next batch to be washed.

"So, Liu my dear," she said in a sweet voice, "How is he?"

"Still concerned with the other woman, Grandmother," she said in a voice without emotion.

"Pardon my saying this, Liu," her grandmother said, "But wouldn't it be rather nasty to break up a romance just for your own sake?" 

"That's easy for you to say, Grandma," Liu sighed, as she sat down in a stuffed chair.  "You've lived your life.  You've been married.  I haven't."  She glanced back out the window.  "Now, with all the boys dead, my chances of finding the right man just shot up astronomically high."

"That part, I understand, dear, but…"

"But now, I finally have a man of my own, and one the army hasn't collected yet."  Liu quickly interrupted.  "If I just wanted sex, I'll apply for the re-population program.  But I want a relationship, grandmother, and a family all of my own."

"You'll never be able to have a normal family life in our day and age, Liu dear," her grandmother replied after a few moments silence.  "I just hope you know what you're getting yourself, and that poor young man, into."

"Trust me, Grandmother," Liu said, "Once he sees what I'm offering compared with the enslavement that the government is offering, he'll never want to take one step off this farm."

"Well," the old lady said, as she paused with a smile, "It would be nice to have a man to help around with looking this old place, and it would be nice to see you finally settle down with someone."

"And once I convince Keitaro to stay, everything will be just fine."  Liu said with a smile.  "And he'll never have to worry about anything ever again."  Her smile turned evil.  "Or that other woman."

***

"Are you finished, yet?"  Liu asked the door.  

"Yep," Keitaro answered, and the door opened, and he walked out.  He'd had a shave, a shower, and cleaned himself up, after what had seemed like an eternity.  "Man, it feels good to be clean."

"And you look better, too," Liu said, placing a hand against his face.  Keitaro blushed violently as her touch.  "And your skin is so silky smooth."  She began to rub her hand up and down the side of his face.

"Aaaahhhhhhhh!"  Keitaro began to get nervous, and a slight trickle of blood ran down his nose.

"Oh," Liu said, taking note of this, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!"  Keitaro said quickly, and turned away, covering his nose.

"Is that blood?"  Liu said, looking at some spots on the floor.

"Yes, I mean no!  Uhh," Keitaro's arms flailed about as he tried to come up with an explanation.  "I don't know what I mean!"  He turned away from Liu again and cowered.  "I'm sorry, Liu, please don't hurt me!"

"Why would I?"  She asked.  "You've got a nose bleed, haven't you?"

"Yes," Keitaro said sheepishly.

"Just because you're attracted to me, isn't it?"  She moved closer.  Uncomfortably close.

"Y-yes!  I mean, no.  I mean --- ARRGGGGGHHH!"  Liu's arms had just circled around his chest, and was hugging him to her.

"It's okay, Keitaro," she whispered softly into his ear, "I don't mind."  She then began to lazily trace her fingers across his shirt.  "In fact, I was kinda hoping you'd find me attractive."

Keitaro was burning up.  His face was redder than a tomato.  Liu was breathing down the back of his neck, tickling the light hairs there.  He couldn't breath, and his pants were becoming uncomfortably tight.

"I…!  I…!"  Keitaro stammered.

"Yes?"  Liu asked with a smile.

"I REALLY NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM!!!"  Keitaro suddenly shouted, surprising both himself, and Liu.

"Oh," she said, with a hint of disappointment in her tone of voice.  "Very well, it's the second door on the left, just down the hall."  She pointed in the direction.

"T-thanks!"  Keitaro said scratching behind his head, then in the blink of an eye, took of like a bullet, down the hall.

"Humph," Liu crossed her arms.  "Still playing hard to get, Keitaro?  Let's see how long you can keep that up."  She then reached up to her top button, and began to undo it.

Keitaro quickly closed the door, locked it, and then turned about to do his business.  "Oh God," Keitaro muttered.  "That girl reminds me way to much of Kitsune."  He looked up and out the window at the outside world.  "Gee, Kitsune.  I wounder how she's doing?  Hell, I wounder how the other guys are doing?"

He stared out the window, just thinking, until he was finished.  Finally, he flushed, washed his hands, and left the room.

Liu was still waiting for him where he'd left her.  She had her arms crossed, but her face held a cute smile.  "Finished?"  She asked.  

"Uhhh, yes, I a…"  He trailed off, as he realised that Liu had undone her three top buttons.  As his eyes trailed down her exposed skin, he began to turn even redder than before, as he realised she wore no bra.

"Is something wrong?"  She asked, moving purposely towards him that exposed even more of her cleavage.

"…!"  Keitaro opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Liu moved even closer, placing two hands on the back of his head.  "Do you have something to say, Keitaro?"  She asked.  She began to slide her fingers through his hair, "Well, don't be shy, tell me," she then lowered her face mealy inches away from his, and lowered her voice to a whisper.  "What is it you want?"

"…!"  Keitaro's mind was a complete blank.  He couldn't even breathe.  His limbs weren't working.  He was fighting a deadlock battle with his mind.  One half was warning him to stay loyal to Naru, while the other half was screaming at him to stop being a fool and take what was being offered to him.

Suddenly, one hand left the back of his head, and began to trail around to the front.  Her hand withdrew a little, so that her fingers trailed softly down his neck, his chest, his stomach…

"Maybe you don't know what to do," Liu cooed to him.  "Maybe I should take the initiative," her fingers reached his belt buckle, and paused.  "And see weather or not it's what you want."

She then began to undo the buckle.

*Hey* Keitaro heard Naru's voice in his head.  *You made me a promise, remember!  Idiot!*

"Ahh!  I'm sorry!"  He suddenly shouted out, surprising Liu, and she let go of him.  Keitaro had been putting all his weight into Liu hold, so when she let go of him, he fell backwards, landing on his back with a loud crash.

"Oh, Keitaro," Liu cried out, rushing over to him.  "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah."  Keitaro breathed.  He was still flushed over what Liu's advances were doing to him.

"Here," Liu said, putting one of his arms around her, as she lifted him off the ground, and helped him to stand up.  "Maybe you're still not back to your full health.  Come, let's get you back to bed."

*Damn!*  She muttered to herself.  *Maybe I'm coming onto him too fast, and too soon.  If a try to rush things, I may drive him away completely.  No, I will have to be patient.*

Liu helped him back, and lay him back down on the bed.  "I'm fine, really," Keitaro protested, as she laid him down.  "I j-just slipped, that's all."

"Nonsense," she said, as she fluffed up his pillow, and laid his head down.  "You've been running around in a storm.  You need rest, or you'll catch a cold."

"But I feel…  Opffhh!"  Keitaro was cut of when Liu pulled out a thermometer from nowhere and stuck it into his mouth.

"We can't be to careful, you know," Liu said in a cheery voice, "After all, all the boys died of the flu, so we have to be sure you aren't coming down with the same thing."

Keitaro tried to tell her if what ever killed all the men affected him, he'd already be dead, but with the thermometer in his mouth, all that came out was an unintelligible mumble of words, before Liu silenced him by placing a warm wash cloth on his forehead.

Where the hell did she get that from anyway, there wasn't even a bucket in the room.  She then yanked the thermometer from his mouth, and held it far away from him, as she scrutinised it.

"Ohhh, you're running a low fever, you should stay in bed, Keitaro, before it gets any worse."

"Can I take a look at that?"  Keitaro asked, reaching for the thermometer.  Liu suddenly gave a flick of her wrist, and the thermometer flew up into the air, and spun around, before falling down behind the bed.

"Oops," she said placing a hand against the side of her face, that reminded Keitaro too much of Mitsune, "Silly me, I dropped it.  Oh dear, it went under the bed, in the place were I can't reach." 

"Are you sure I'm running a fever?"

"Of cause you are," Liu said sweetly, and leaning over, her face still held that sweet look, as she came within inches of Keitaro's face.  "Are you doubting me, Keitaro?"

"Uuhh, No!" He said quickly and added a little laugh at the end.

"Good," she back away.  "Now, you just rest until I come back with some chicken soup, good for fighting colds.  Heh he!"  Then, she was gone.  

Keitaro sighed loudly, and lifted up the covers, looking down.  "I wonder if she realised she put me into bed with shoes on?"  He then carefully lifted out his legs, and took the shoes of, before getting back under the covers.  "Man, that girl is weird."

At the bottom of the stairs, Liu saw her grandmother knitting away.  Her face was hidden from view because of the woollen sweater she was making.

"Told you so," was all she said.

Liu made a face.  "Shut up," She replied, and stormed into the kitchen, ignoring her grandmother's chuckles.

**HINATA CITY: Later that Afternoon…**

Haruka was busy sweeping some leaves from the front area of the Hinata Apartments.  She finished, and taking out a cigarette, lit it, and walked back inside.  She sat down on the couch, blew some smoke out of her mouth, and then turned to the pot plant beside the stairs.

"Why don't you come out," she said, "I've known you've been there for quite some time."

The plant rustled, and a woman wearing a black ninja outfit rose.  "My, my, Ms. Urashima," she said, folding her arms, "You are good."

"He's not here, if that's what you're looking for."

"We already know that," the lady said.  "We'll find the kid, Urashima, you can't stop us."

"But Keitaro can."  Haruka replied.  "You'll never catch him, so if I were you, I'd stop wasting my time."

"We're not the only ones looking for the kid, Urashima," the ninja said.  "Other's are too."

"Really?"  Haruka said with a smile.  "You expect me to believe that?"

"I'm not expecting you, to believe me, Urashima," the ninja replied.  "I'm just telling you what we know.  Now, would you rather he be in our hands, or foreign?"

"Neither," Haruka answered, as she got up, and walked over to a cupboard.  She opened it up to reveal brooms, rakes, shoves, and Hoe's.  She then pushed them aside and began to rummage for something in the very back.

"That option is simply not possible, Urashima," the ninja said, turning away, and looking at a group photo of all the girls, with Keitaro in the middle.  "You're nephew is hot property, and more valuable than materials to build an atomic weapon."  She then looked up to find Haruka with a huge machine gun in her hands, "Where the hell did you get that?" 

"It was a gift from my mother," Haruka replied, struggling with the large weapon.  Finally getting a shoulder under it, Haruka took aim at the ninja.  "I'm gonna give you till the count of ten."

"You're only making things worse, Haruka," the ninja said, sweating a little.  "We will find Keitaro, with or without your help!"

"Ten."

"You can make things easier for the boy buy telling us were he is."

"Nine."  Haruka cooked the lever on the gun, locking the first bullet into place.

"Don't be a fool, Urashima!"  Haruka then flipped up the aiming sights, and levelled the gun right at the ninja woman.

"Even if I knew where he was, I still wouldn't tell you.  Eight."

The ninja woman backed into a dark corner of the room, and disappeared.  Haruka kept the gun aimed at the corner for a few more seconds, making sure she was really gone, then lowered the gun, and sighed.

"Keitaro," Haruka whispered softly.  Then, gaining back her posture, turned around, and walked over to a secret door.  She pushed it open, and walks into a small room.

In the corner, lay a small wooden desk, with a gas lamp, a wooden chair, and a two way radio set.  She then placed the machine gun down beside her, and picked up the receiver.  She turned the radio on, and began tuning the dial.

"You're going to need help, Nephew," Haruka said.  "And I know just who to call."

**THE NEXT MORNING…**

Keitaro woke, half expecting to see Liu hovering beside the bed.  But she wasn't.  After getting up, he found out she was down stairs cooking breakfast.

"Morning!"  She called out cheerfully to him, as he came around the corner.

"Uhhh, morning, Liu."  He said with a small wave. 

"Is something wrong, Keitaro?"  She asked.

"No, nothing." Keitaro answered.  Keitaro just shrugged.  Maybe she'd given up trying to come on to him. 

"Coffee?"  She asked, holding up a kettle.

"Is the Pope a catholic?"  Keitaro replied with a smile.

Liu laughed, and set about making coffee.  "And how are you this morning…  Urashima, isn't it?"  Keitaro turned around at the sound of the new voice.

There was a little old lady that reminded Keitaro of his own grandmother.  This must be Liu's grandmother.

"Yes, that's right," Keitaro replied.  "And you must be Liu's Grandmother.  How do you do."  He bowed to her.

"Oh, such a charming young man," she said with a smile.  

"Breakfast is ready!"  Liu called out.  They all sat down at a table, and enjoyed some scrambled eggs.  Eventually, the kettle began to whistle, and they had some coffee to drink as well.

"Wow, Liu," Keitaro said once the coffee was finished, "You make an excellent breakfast, and a great coffee to match."

"Thank you, Keitaro," Liu said, her face beaming with pride.

"Keitaro," Liu grandmother said, sipping on her tea.  

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could do me a favour?"  Keitaro began to worry.  Was it some sort of commitment to Liu?

"Uhh, okay?"  He said nervously.

"My granddaughter, Liu, she has a tough time, helping me run this farm.  I was wondering if during your stay here, with us, you could help my daughter run our farm?  You wouldn't have to worry about being seen.  We've had no visitors here since before the plague."

"Of cause I'd be whiling to help around the farm," Keitaro said with relief.  "After all, what kind of a guest would I be if I didn't thankyou for your kindness."

Keitaro finished of what was left of his coffee, unaware that Liu's grandmother gave her granddaughter wink, who smiled in return.

Then all that morning Keitaro helped Liu with her chores.  It was a small farm, a small holding, just a few acres of fields up the hill beyond the house.  She was working the land, just herself and her grandmother.  And she was struggling, even Keitaro could see that.  It wasn't that there was a lack of land, it was just that by herself and with the cheap, wooden and labor-intensive tools at hand she could barely work what she had.  And she couldn't afford to hire help now days. 

So Keitaro carted cut and trimmed logs from where they lay along the edges of the tree line where they'd been felled, up the hill past the pasture where cows grazed to where a field of hay was being fenced off.  Easier to let the animals roam and enclose the crops.  For a couple of hours while the muddy ground steamed and dried and warmed Keitaro went back and forth, carrying the four meter long rounds up the hill and trudging back down for another load.  The logs were hard pine, still leaking pine gum that adhered to his skin in a tacky film that smelled absurdly like cheap car air freshener and the coarse bark scraped his shoulder.  

Later in the morning Keitaro saw Liu coming back over the hill, headed back from the general direction of the river.  She had a couple of rabbit carcasses and a few fish slung over her shoulder.  Liu's grandmother gave them a cursory inspection before sending her scurrying back down to the farmhouse.  Keitaro couldn't help staring. Food. Was that going to be lunch?

Well, it's not like they could go down to the convenience store and pick up a frozen pizza.

When the last of the wood was delivered, Keitaro drove stakes.  Before the time of the plague, fences would have been kilometers of wire stapled to posts, but now, wire wasn't cheap or available anymore.  The fence under construction was mostly interlocking rails stacked one atop another, held in place by pairs of stakes driven into the ground.  Liu had laid out logs along the path the fence was to take.  Keitaro worked his way along those logs, hammering vertical stakes in at the junctions where the rails overlapped.

Meanwhile, Liu was busy splitting the wood Keitaro had carried.  Wielding a wooden mallet and awl, she was working her way along the fence line splitting the logs into rails.  She'd drive iron wedges into the log in strategic spots and hammer then in until the wood split lengthwise.  At least, she was trying to do that.  Quite often she was spitting and snarling oaths at fractured and splintered wood.  

As the sun climbed the day got hotter and the maul seemed to get heavier.  Keitaro mopped his brow, and resisted the urge to take of his shirt, even though it was clinging uncomfortably to him, for fear of what such a gesture might do to Liu.  Eventually, Liu asked him to stop, while she went to get some water.  Some time later, she returned, and laboured up the hill with a wooden pitcher of water.

"Water?" she offered the bucket to Keitaro.

"Thank you," he said, quite sincerely.  She watched as he drank deeply, awkwardly, water dribbling down his chin.  

"Your welcome, Keitaro," Liu said.  Keitaro handed the water back to Liu, and wiped sweat away again and squinted at the sun.  Shadows were short, the sun a white haze too bright to look at.  The golden field of the hay meadow stretched down the hill to the little two story house, a faint shimmer of heat rising.  Insects, pollen, drifting seeds… tiny specks wafted and danced on the warm breeze that for a moment seemed quite chill, smelling of coal dust.

Looking back, he caught just a quick glimpse of Liu staring at him. He shook his head.  He was going to have to address this issue sooner or later.  Might as well be now.

Building up enough courage, he turned to face Liu.  "Liu," Keitaro said with sigh, "You're attracted to me, aren't you?"  Liu nodded shyly.  

"Yes, Keitaro, it's true."

"And you've been trying to convince me to stay, haven't you?"

"Yes."  Liu said guiltily.

"Liu, look," Keitaro sighed loudly, and licked his lips, thinking of how he was going to explain this.  "I understand it was be difficult for you, but there is already a woman out there, whom I love.  She was the whole reason I set out from home.  Do you think it's fair on her, that you should try to keep us apart?"

Liu didn't answer.  Then, said, "Please, Keitaro, understand that I didn't do it for the reason to have sex with you."

"Oh?"

"The new government has been asking for young women to voluntaire to get themselves pregnant, in order to repopulate the country.  I'm more than eligible to get into bed with a male who survived the plague, but…"  She paused, looking away.

"But?"

"But I want more than sex, Keitaro," she said, "When I found you in our hayloft, I thought it was a dream come true.  Even before the plague, I never could find the right boyfriend.  I mean, all I seemed to attract were a long list of losers and dead-heads."  She hugged herself as she shrank a little.

"Liu," Keitaro said softly, "I…"

"When I saw you, and I realised that you were the male the soldiers were looking for, I realised I had a second chance.  One last attempt to live a happy life."  

Keitaro herd a low sob, and suddenly felt like a complete idiot.  "Liu, please," he said stepping forward, "I'm sorry, I… I didn't know.  Please, forgive me."  He put her arms around her, trying to comfort her.

"What's the use," she said with a sniff.  "You'll be gone in a week or two, and I'll be all alone once more."

"Liu, please," Keitaro said a bit louder this time, gripping her tightly.  He then spun her around to face him.  "I…"  His voice trailed off, as he looked into Liu's eyes.  They were puffy from crying, and water welled up.  Her face was red, and Keitaro began to wish he hadn't stopped her advances last night.

But only barely.

"I'd love to stay, really, I'd love too, but…"  Keitaro trailed off.

"It's easy for you, Keitaro," she said, "You can have any girl you want, now.  After all, if I were you, I wouldn't want one girl weighing me down, right?"

"Huh!?!"  Keitaro was taken back.  "What?  No!  That's not what I meant!  I already have…"

"A girlfriend!?!"  Liu finished.  "But even you said yourself, you don't know where to find her.  The soldiers already found you once, Keitaro, and if you leave the safety of this farm, what's to stop them from finding you again?"

"Well, I…"

"And you don't know where to start looking for this Naru girl.  She could be anywhere, maybe she's dead too."

"Hey, now…"

"I'm just stating the facts, Keitaro," Liu said.  "I'm offering you happiness, safety, and a chance to live something close to a normal life, something you could never possibly hope to achieve anywhere else!"

Keitaro was silent.  He couldn't answer her.  Because she was right.  He hadn't thought to far ahead about finding Naru.  Okay, if he found her, then what?  Where would they go?  Where could they go?  Liu was right, he'd never be able to live a normal existence ever again, and he really had no idea where to start looking for Naru.

In fact, he really couldn't see any possibility for finding Naru.  He couldn't go back to the Hinata Apartments, or Naru's house, because the military would be watching to see if he went to ether one.

As much as he hated to admit it, Liu was right.

"Keitaro?"  She asked.

Keitaro's options weighed heavily.  Naru was the girl he loved, but… he also felt something for Liu as well.  She was offering him the one thing he couldn't possibly hope to achieve.  A normal life.

"Keitaro?"  Liu repeated again.

Keitaro took a deep breath, and then standing up straight and tall, turned to face Liu.  "Liu," he said slowly, "I- I've been thinking about everything you've said.  And you're right."  He sighed loudly, turning away.  

"You m-mean…?"

"Liu, I…  I…!"  Suddenly, his eyes flung wide open, as the image of a younger version of himself playing in a sandpit with another girl suddenly forced its way into his head.  A Liddo-Kun the Squirrel doll lay off to one side.

*When we grow up, let's go to Tokyo U together, okay!*

*Promise*  The young Keitaro said.  Suddenly the girl was shoved aside, as Naru stepped into view, and pointed directly at Keitaro.

*Then what the hell are you doing with that woman, you pervert!*  

"I can't!  I just can't!"  Ketiaro cried out in alarm, stumbling backwards from Liu.

As he stood back, he stood on a lose rock, and he broke away, allowing Keitaro to tumble backwards, and roll down the hill, head over heals.

"Oh no!"  Liu cried out.  "Keitaro!"  She rushed down the hill after him.

***

"Oooooohh!"  Keitaro moaned, laying on the couch.  

"Dose this hurt."  Liu asked.

"No," Keitaro said.

"Dose this hurt?"

"YES!!!"

"Hurt your back, poor young man," Liu's grandmother said from the kitchen.  "What were you thinking up on that hill, Keitaro?"

"About, other things," he moaned.  Liu just blushed.

"I see."  She replied.  "Well, I'll go make us some lunch."

"Hey, Liu," Keitaro asked, "Have you got any pain relief?"

"Yes, we do," she said, "In the cupboard in the downstairs bathroom."

"Okay, thanks, I'll just…" Keitaro said as he started to get up from the couch.

"Stay," Liu said sternly before starting to giggle. "You'll just cause your self more pain in your condition.  I'll get it for you."

Keitaro laughed back. "Okay. Thanks."

Liu hurried off to the bathroom and the kitchen before returning to Keitaro with some tables and a glass of water. "Here, Keitaro."

Keitaro took the pills and washed them down. "Thanks."

Liu took the glass away and returned to stand behind Liu.  She placed her hands on his shoulders, startling him as she began to work her fingertips into his neck muscles.

"Hey. What are you doing?"  Keitaro asked as he closed his eyes.

"Trying to make you feel better, my friend."  Liu said softly as she kneaded his shoulders and neck.  Keitaro grinned, from the pleasant feeling of her fingers.

"That's lovely, Liu."  He said. 

"Would you mind stretching out on the floor?"  Liu asked.

Keitaro got up and dropped to his knees, lowering himself with a groan as his back tightened.  He heard Liu move around behind him and felt her knees on either side of his hips as she straddled him. He felt her rest her weight on the back of his thighs as her hands resumed gently massaging his shoulders.

Liu's hands moved lower, slowly working her way down his spine. Her fingers digging into his muscles.

"Hey, you're a great measure, Liu.  Where did you learn this?" Keitaro asked. 

"From reading books of course," she replied cheerfully.

Keitaro lead out a pleased moan as Liu worked on his lower back. "Damn that feels good. You have strong fingers, Liu."

Liu smiled, happy with Keitaro's satisfaction.  "You have a strong back," she said absently as she concentrated on the feeling of his skin beneath her fingers.  She slipped her hands under Keitaro's shirt and continued kneading his muscles while enjoying the smoothness of his skin.

Keitaro jumped a little as Liu's hands slipped under his shirt. Her hands felt warm and soft as she continued his massage.  Keitaro's mind raced over whether or not he should be letting Liu touch him in that manner.  He tried to think of a way to tell her to stop without making her feel she had done something wrong.

"You know, maybe all I need is a nice warm shower," he said as he felt Liu's hands move down his sides, slipping under his arms and around his chest.  He could feel her breasts pressing into his back as she laid her head over his shoulder.  He realized he was becoming aroused as he felt Liu's body against his and her breath in his ear.  His face began to arm up and turn red.  "Liu," he said nervously before she cut him off.

"A shower isn't going to make you feel better, Keitaro," she said softly. "Relax.  Just relax and let me take care of you."

Keitaro found relaxing impossible at the moment.  He felt her weight disappear from his back.  Her hands beneath his chest began lifting him as she began to pull away from him, pulling his shoulders back.  "Hey," he started to complain as Liu forced his back to arch and he felt like he was going to snap in two.

His spine popped three times before Liu laid him back on his chest.  She began massaging his lower back again until she felt his muscles loosen a little more.

"How is that, Keitaro?"  Liu asked as she moved to sit on the couch.  Keitaro rolled over and sat up. 

"Much better," he said, surprised not to feel any pain.  He got up and sat beside her.  "Thank you."

Liu smiled before leaning close, giving his cheek a quick kiss, before rising and leaving the room.

Keitaro watched her head down the hallway with a joyful spring in her step.

Keitaro laid back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling.  He felt completely foolish for acting the way he had up on that hill.  But what she had said, really haunted him.  She was right, about never being able to live a normal existence ever again.  The thought scared him, the more he thought about it.

That is why he was nearly ready to accept her proposal back up on that hill.  Before his memories resurfaced.

However, as he thought about her proposal, her antics revisited his thoughts.  The way she'd thrown herself at him in such a blatant manor.  If he really wanted a girl like that, he would've pursued Kitsune back at the apartments.  He rolled onto his side, facing the back of the couch.  "What should I do?" he said to himself as he hoped a nap would clear his thoughts.

***

"Liu, dear," Liu's Grandmother asked, as she came around the corner into the kitchen.  "What happened between you two up on the hill?"

Liu sighed in frustration.  "He was nearly ready to accept my proposal, when he all of a sudden, drew a blank, and started screaming something about that he couldn't."

"Couldn't?  Couldn't what?"

Liu shrugged.  "He went all quite, like somebody having an outer body experience, and then he suddenly freaked out."

"Really?"  The old woman rubbed her chin.

"It's only a matter of time," Liu said with a shrug, "I'm slowly battering down his defences.  Very soon, he's going to crack."

"That's if he doesn't find some excuse to leave, my dear," the old lady replied.  "If his love for this other woman has been keeping him from you for this long, then something's bond to come up."

Liu crossed her arms in defiance.  "Now you're just being paranoid, grandmother," she said.  "We've never had any visitor's around here since the time of the plague.  Plus, he's not going to leave the farm any time soon for fear of discovery."  

"We will see, my dear," the old woman answered.  "We will see."

***

A few hours later, Keitaro woke up from his nap, and after having some lunch, went back to work.  Although he was strangely quite.  He was debating within his mind, on what he should do concerning Liu.

Liu on the other hand was quite herself.  She wasn't making any more moves on him, and seemed to be avoiding him as much as possible.  Why?  Was this some new scheme?  Was it a different tactic?  Or had she really given up of him?

The way she'd massaged him before confused him.  Was she coming on to him then, or was that his old perverted self, just acting up because of the close proximity she was to him.

He gripped his head and growled in frustration.  Damn it all!  It was so difficult.  What was the correct answer?  Was there even an answer?  Arrgggghhhh!!! 

Instead, he picked up his tools, and went back to work, trying to concentrate on anything but Liu, Naru, and his whole messed up situation.

Throughout that hot afternoon Keitaro dug more holes and drove more stakes.  It was a pretty mindless job that he just methodically worked his way through.   Mainly, it took his mind of other things.

Following the zig-zag of stones that Liu had laid down the field, digging a hole and then driving a post, one after another.  It gave Keitaro time to think, to try and figure out just where the hell he was going next.  The only problem was, that there was nowhere to go.  Even Liu knew that.  Keitaro was also realizing that the soldiers who were after him would know that, after all there weren't many other choices.  So, Keitaro had to try and formulate some sort of plan.  He almost felt disappointed when he drove a stake and found he'd reached the end of the line.  But there was still wood to chop; quite a pile of it.

Liu had looked a little uneasy as she unwrapped an axe from an oilcloth.  It was obviously a valuable possession, but Keitaro couldn't help wondering if she was concerned for the safety of the tool or by the fact he wasn't clear on what he was going to do.  Stay or leave.  Whatever, she handed it over.  She then showed him the whetstone and then she left him to it, although not without a few glances over her shoulder.

The wood wasn't in convenient rounds neatly trimmed by saw; it was just a pile of logs and branches that'd been picked up, dragged or cut by axe but weren't any size that could be put into a stove or fireplace.  Some of them Keitaro was able to break into manageable lengths, others he had to axe.  That was frustrating work; Keitaro hadn't done manual work like this in far too long, and had trouble actually splitting the wood.  What's more he knew a chainsaw or just a good ripsaw would be able to go through the firewood like butter, but of course there wasn't anything like that available anymore because of the fact that the government had been hording all of Japan's fuel supplies, so he had to do it the hard way.

So he chopped and cut and snapped wood while the day went on.  The axe was sharp and effective at splitting the soft woods and the clean pine, but the knottier pieces and hardwoods were tough going.  Keitaro kept at it, sweating furiously and knocking water back by the litre.  Working away at the daunting pile of raw timber and carting armloads of cut firewood across to the house to stack under the eaves.  The dusty ground covered with chips and splinters, the hot air filled with the smells of the wood: pine and oak and cedar. 

About five o'clock, by his inexpert judging of the sun.  Keitaro was carrying a double armload of wood back to the house and rounded the corner to find a team of horses and a covered wagon resting just in front of the house.  He looked past the horses to the wagon they were drawing, and could make out a lone figure sitting up the front.

She was talking to Liu's grandmother.

They'd found him, that was the first thought that hit Keitaro like a bucket of cold water.  But quickly realised that this woman who granny was talking to wasn't with the military.

But what about the government.

Quickly, Keitaro stepped back behind the side of the house, put down the woodpile in his hand, and carefully looked back out again.  The woman on the cart hadn't noticed him, but was talking rather loudly, and making all sorts of gestures, pointing into her wagon.

Granny kept shaking her head, in a polite manor.  Keitaro smiled.  Obviously some sort of travelling sales man… err woman.  

Suddenly, the saleswoman blurted out loud: "Well, then how the hell am I supposed to make a liv'n then?  Huh?"

That voice.

Keitaro was stunned.  That voice.  He knew that voice too well.  He looked around the corner once more, and this time, got a good look at the face of the woman driving the cart.

His eyes widened.  NO, it couldn't be.  But it was.

"Look" Liu's grandmother said holding up her hand, "For the last time, young lady, I will not…"

"KITSUNE!?!"  Keitaro shouted out loud.

"Huh?"  Both women looked up, to see Keitaro around the side of the house, pointing widely at Kitsune.

"WHA--!?!?"  Kitsune shrieked out loud, and did a double take, nearly falling off the cart.  "KEITARO!?!"  She stared in disbelief, rubbed her eyes, and stared again.  "But---!?!  HOW!?!  WHY!?!?!  WHEN!?!?!"  She was now pointing and gibbering.

"You two know each other?"  The old lady asked.

"Kitsune!"  Keitaro cried out, rushing up to the wagon.  "It really is you!"

Kitsune stared opened mouthed as Keitaro came closer.  She then reached out a finger, and poked him.  When she realised he was soli and real, she screamed out again.

"EEEKKKKK!!  You really are Keitaro!  But I thought you were dead?"  

"But I'm not, Kitsune," he cried out, then jumped up on the wagon and grabbed her in a crushing bear hug.  "Oh, God, it's so good to see even you!"

"Well, that's…"  Suddenly Kitsune paused, then glared at Keitaro.  "Hey, just what the hell did you mean by that 'even you' remark, huh?"  She grabbed him around the neck and started throttling him.

"ACK!!!"  Keitaro squeaked out.  "S-Sam old Kits-sune!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLD!?!?!"  She then began to pound his head.

"Are you sure she's a friend?"  Liu's grandmother asked, her head cocked to one side.

Kitsune quickly stopped assaulting Keitaro, smiling her sweet charming smile.  "Oh, Keitaro and I go back a long way.  Right sugar?"  She squeezed Keitaro into a Headlock.

"R-right!"  Keitaro then struggled for air.  "C-can't breath!  Kitsune, L-let go!"

"In fact, we were lovers, right?"

"WH--!?!"  That was about as far as he got, before Kitsune squeezed again, cutting off his protest, and turning his face bright red, as he scrabbled at her arms, trying to break the grip around his neck.

"Will ya just look at him?  All chocked up over see'n me again.  Well, hows about a kiss, sugar?"  She then buried her face into his as she kissed him, causing Keitaro's arms to flap fast than a humming bird.

"What the hell is wr--!"  Keitaro shouted, before Kitsune hugged his face into her bosom.  He automatically went limp.

"The poor boy, so delirious after being so long without me.  Well, thanks for look'n after him for me, we'd best be off now!"

"HEY!!!"  Kitsune let go of Keitaro, who fell back of the wagon and landed on his back on the sold earth.  "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?!?!"  Across from the house, a woman, who looked a lot like Kistune was staring back, pointing at her, and her face was bright red.  "AND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?!?!"

She then suddenly tore across the grass, and was at Keitaro's side within seconds.

"Wow," Kisune muttered, "I've only seen Naru move that fast before."

"Keitaro," she said softly, "Are you alright?"

"Owwwww!"  He moaned.

"What the hell were you doing to him?" She cried, looking up at Kitsune.

"This young lady knows Keitaro, and he her," Liu's grandmother said.  "She claims to be his lover."

"What!?!"  She shrieked.  "That's a lie."

"Says you, sugar," Kitsune replied, "But I've known Keitaro for much longer than you have."

"So, you must've been one of the bimbos who were constantly beating up on him, eh?"

"Who are you calling a bimbo, you tramp!"  Kitsune shouted back at her.

"Well then," Liu said with an evil smile.  "If you really want to take Keitaro with you, then…"  She reached behind her back, and whipped out a super huge samurai sword.  "You'll have to fight to the death for him."

"N-Now hold on a second there!"  Kitsune said, holding up her hands in defence.

"DIE!!!"  Liu shrieked, as she leapt for Kitsune.

***


	4. Love Hurts: Just like an Anvile

**AN:  **Hi-Diddily, Do-Diddily!  Apologies for the late update, but my job has really been sucking the creative juices from my brain recently.  Plus, I'm not really happy with the way this chapter turned out, so I was delaying its release.  I'm still not happy with it now, but I'll let you guys decide.  

**I have as much rage as you have**

**I have as much pain as you do**

**I've lived as much hell as you have**

**And I've kept mine bubbling under for you**

**                      _- Alanis Morissette "Sympathetic Character"_**__

"AARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHH!!!"  Kitsune screamed out loud.  She then ducked down low, as Liu swung her sword, just barely missing Kistune by mere inches.

Sailing past her.  Liu somersaulted in mid-air, and landed gently on both feet with all the grace of an Olympic acrobat.  

"You were lucky that time," Liu said softly, "But lets see how long that lasts!  HIIIYAAAAAAHHHH!"  She raised the sword above her head, and leapt at Kistune once more.

Kitsune screamed out loud, and covered her face, as Liu drew closer.  Then, Liu brought the sword down on Kitsune's head.

Or so she tried.

When she brought her sword down, all she brought down were her arms.  The sword was missing.  "Wha--!?"  She cried out, forgetting that she was still airborne.  Not paying attention to where she was going slammed face first into the side of the house.

"Liu," her grandmother snapped, "That's enough of this.  Settle down this instant!"  She held Liu's sword up high, then threw it away where it landed a few feet away, sticking into the ground.

"Wow," Keitaro muttered, "How did she do that?"

"That's a long held family secret, young man," she replied.  Liu groaned loudly, as she picked herself up of the ground, rubbing her bruised face.

"Humph!"  Kitsune glared at Liu, as she crossed her arms.  "Serves you right!"

"And as for you, young lady," Granny said pointing at Kitsune, "Explain yourself at once!"

"Yeah," Keitaro said, getting up of the ground.  "What's with that whole business of being my lover?"

"I was try'n to get you away from here, Keitaro," she said.

"It's okay, Kistune," Keitaro said, "I'm fine, these people have been very nice to me."

"Then why the hell did you come rushing up to me and screaming in that way?"

"I was just happy to see you, that's all."  Keitaro said.

"Really, you were?"  Kitsune said.  She smiled, and put one around Keitaro's shoulder.  "Now that Naru's gone, you know, we can still be lovers, hon."

"Excuse me!"  Liu stepped in between them.  "Kindly keep your hands off him!"

"Liu, calm down please," Keitaro tried to pull her away.

"Yeah," Kitsune teased, "Down girl, sit!  Staaaaay!"

"GRRRRRRRR!"  Liu's face began to boil over red.

"Kitsune!"  Ketiaro warned, as he quickly stepped in between the two near combatants.  

"Stop this, all of you!"  Liu's grandmother warned.  "Liu calm down, and you too, Missy!"  There was a five second silence.  "Very good," she said in a sweet voice.  "See, you can behave like normal adults."

"So, Keitaro," Kitsune said, "How did you survive?  I thought you were dead.  I mean, the plague killed all the men.  How come you're still around?"

"I don't know the answer to that question, Kistune," Keitaro said.  "But what on earth are you doing all the way out here?"

"Oh, try'n to make a live'n in the world these days."

"I would hardly call what you are selling, young missy, a living."  Liu's grandmother said.

"Huh?  What are you selling?"  Keitaro asked, looking up at Kitsune's wagon, "And where did you get the horses?"

"Oh these girls," Kitsune patted the closest horse.  "I found these poor things, in some ladies stables, just doing nothing much."

"You stole them!?!"  Keitaro was dumbfounded, and then quickly wised up, as a sweat droplet ran down his forehead.  "Oh wait, something like this is normal for you." 

"And as for what I'm sell'n!"  She reached into the back of the wagon, and pulled out a few magazines.  

Naughty magazines.  Naughty magazines for girls.  Naughty magazines for girls by the boat load.

"I'm not even going to ask where you got those!"  Keitaro said, turning away from the image on the covers.

"You know, these things are worth their weight in gold these days.  You'd be surprised how many women will trade food items for just one of these babies!"

"Really?"  Liu had gone from angry to curious.  She was staring at the muscle bound man on the cover with an itty-bitty lion-cloth.  

"Uh-huh!"  Kitsune said, handing one to Liu.  "These go like hot cakes to the girls who don't get accepted into the re-population program."  She opened one up and let a three-page centrefold, fold out. 

"Really?"  Liu's eyes widened, and tilted her head to one side.

"Liu!"  Her grandmother snapped.  "You don't need to pollute your mind with such garbage."   

Liu blinked in surprised, and looked back over at Keitaro, who was looking very overshadowed, and ashamed by the handsome men in the magazines.

"Oh, I'm sorry Keitaro," Liu quickly said, zooming to his side.  "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.  You still look very handsome to me."  She then gave him a quick kiss on the check.  

"Even with nearly all the men dead, I still get humiliated by girls.  Maybe my life hasn't changed at all."

"Same old Keitaro," Kitsune said, tossing the mags over her shoulder.  "Say, you never told me, what the Sam hell are you do'n all the way out here?"

Before Keitaro could answer, a whistling sound suddenly began to pierce the evening air.

"Oh my," Granny said, "That's the alarm, which means, that dinner is ready!"

"Oh shame," Liu said with a sly smile, "I guess that means this conversation is over, and we're going inside, and you can leave now."

"Liu!"  Granny snapped.  "This young lady is a friend of Keitaro's, and they obviously haven't seen each other in a long time.  You can't just send her of like that!"

"Yes I can, grandmother," she said sweetly, but through her clenched teeth.

"Besides," granny said with a smile, "We have plenty to go around."  She then turned to Kitsune,  "Would you like to join us for dinner, young missy?"

"She doesn't have the time," Liu said stepping between Kitsune and her grandmother, She then hugged Kitsune in an arm lock that cut of the flow of oxygen.  "Don't you!?!"

"Ack!"  Kitsune gasped out.

"See!"  Liu quickly answered.

"LIU!!!"  Granny gave her a stare that made her sweet face sag.  She then let go of Kitsune who fell to the ground, gasping for air.  

"Oh please, won't you join us for dinner," Liu said in dull boredom, as she turned around, and headed back inside, grabbing Keitaro by the arm, and dragging him back inside with her.  "Come Keitaro!"

"Woah!"  He cried out, before he was pulled inside, and the door slammed shut behind them, making the whole house shake.

"Humph!"  Kitsune crossed her arms.  "What's her problem?"

"She just doesn't want Keitaro to leave her, that's all!"

"Huh?"  Kitsune looked surprised.  "Then why were you just acting like you were against it?"

"Keitaro already has his heart pledged to another woman," she answered.

"Naru."  Kitsune said.

"Yes, that was her name."  Granny said.

"Hey, wait a sec!"  Kitsune said, rubbing her head in thought.  "How come you're trying to prevent your granddaughter from getting Keitaro?"

"A journey of incredible odds, through hostile territory, just to reach the woman he loves," she whipped away a tear from her eye as she spoke.  "During the second world war, my late husband did exactly the same thing."

"Huh?"

"During the final days of the war, when the Americans were bombing the main land, my husband deserted his post as a prison guard, and made his way back home across Chin, through Korea, and Japan, looking for me."  

"Wow!"  Kitsune whispered.  "How romantic."

"Of cause, we weren't married then, but he risked life and limb to try and find me, even when I thought he was dead, he kept looking for me.  Eventually he found me, and we were married."

"Oh, I see," Kitsune said, turning to face the front door.  "So you understand the exact same problem Keitaro is facing."

"Yes," she said, "And true love that strong must never be broken.  That is why I want Keitaro to find his love."

"So," Kitsune asked, turning back to Granny, "Dose he know where Naru is?"

She shook her head.  "He never got a chance to find out, before he was captured by the military.  Now, he has no leads, and every day, my granddaughter batters down his defences.  Pretty soon, he will forget about her and spend the rest of his life with Liu."  

"Wait a second," Kitsune said, "You want me to take him wit me when I leave!?!"  Granny simply smiled.

"Hang on a second there, Granny!"  She said, waving her arms about in panic.  "There are a few major problems with that.  One, I barely make enough food a day to feed myself.  Two, Your granddaughter will have my head before she will let me take him away, and Three, You can get shot these days for harbouring a living man!"

"Would you rather Keitaro end up with Naru, or my granddaughter?"

"Well…"

"Excellent," she said, heading for the front door, "The two of you will leave the first thing in the morning."

"But…!"  The door banged shut, leaving Kitsune standing all alone in the evening air.  She paused, and then quickly looked about.  Nobody was watching.  She then placed a finger to her bottom lip and giggled.  "Heh he!  I did it.  I fooled them!"

Giggling, she then headed over to the front door, and went inside.

***

Dinner was deathly quite that night.  Only the sounds of chirping crickets and the sounds the diners made when they ate their soup could be heard.

Liu was constantly shifting her gaze from Kitsune to her Grandmother.  Giving them both death stares.  Her grandmother just ignored her, while Kitsune made flirting passes at Keitaro, who would turn red with embarrassment.

It was then a new noise entered the background.  The sound of grating teeth.  Coming from Liu, as she glared at Kitsune.  

"Ummm," Keitaro said, trying to ease the hostile atmosphere, "This is some great soup, Granny!"

"Yes…!"  Liu said through her teeth, as she glared at Kitsune who busy waving a free hand over her panting tongue.  However, she was leaning just far forward enough to expose a good portion of her cleavage to Keitaro.  "Nice…!  SOUP!!!"  She clenched her hand, and broke the spoon in her grip.

The two halves spun up into the air, before landing back down on the table.  Kitsune picked up one half, and held it before Liu.

"Is this yours?"  She asked with a mischievous grin.

"Damn it, grandmother!"  Liu snapped, as she snatched the broke spoon from Kitsune.  "Why the hell dose SHE have to be here!?!"

"We can't turn her away now that it's night time, granddaughter," Granny replied.  "What kind of people would we be?"

"That's not the reason!"  She cried out.  "It's all because of the experience you had with Grandfather, isn't it!?!" 

"Young lady, you behave yourself, this instant!"  Granny snapped.  "You have been trying to get Keitaro to forget about the woman he is truly in love with for your own selfish gains!" 

"Huh?"  Keitaro looked from Granny to Liu.

Liu was on the brink of tears.  "Grandmother, how could you!"  she chocked out.  "Why did you have to tell him that?"

"I believe in destiny, Liu.  Keitaro was destined to be with Naru, and you are trying to destroy that destiny.  No Liu, how dare you!  How dare you try to destroy true love."

"You just don't understand!"  Liu burst out into tears.  "You never did!"  She then ran from the room, crying.

"Liu!"  Keitaro called out.  He paused, and then turned to Granny.  "Ma'am, wasn't that a bit hash?"

"Keitaro," She replied.  "You can not stay here any longer."

"What?"  He cried out.  "Why?"

"Your destiny lies with Naru, not with Liu.  Believe it or not, I once went through the experience that your Naru went through.  I thought my husband was dead, but he risked life and limb to cross three countries to find me.  Love that strong can not be broken, and should never be broken."

"I…!"  Keitaro was silent.  He felt torn.  Torn between Liu and Naru.  

"Keitaro," granny said, "You must find Naru, so you two can be happy for ever.  It is your destiny!"

"You're…!"  He paused.  Looking up at the hall Liu had disappeared down.  "You're right, granny!  But I don't know where to start looking for her."

"Kitsune will take you from here," Granny said, "She will help you."  Keitaro glanced over at Kitsune who winked at him.

"Are you sure?  This is Kitsune we're talking about."

"Hey!"

"Have faith Keitaro!"  Granny said, taking hold of his hand.  "You will find your true destiny in the end."

"Thankyou."  Keitaro said with a warm smile.  "Thankyou very much."

Elsewhere, down the hall, out of sight, Liu had hung just around the other side of the hall, listening to everything that was going on.  When she heard that Keitaro was planning to leave, she turned about, and fled, tears trailing as she left.

***

It was roughly some time just past mid-night when Keitaro woke up.  He was desperate and need to make a quick trip to the bathroom.  Quietly, he tiptoed down the hall, and to the bathroom.  He closed the door, unzipped his pants and went about his business.

He glanced out the window at the night sky.  The moon shone down on the farm with an eerie glow, lighting up most of the surrounding foliage, but only as black silhouettes.

Strangely, there was a lone human shaped one, just standing up on the very hill he'd had his accident on earlier the other day.  

He frowned as he peered closer at it.  It looked strangely like…

"Liu!" he cried out, then quickly covered his mouth.  She was too far away to hear him, but he was more afraid of waking up others.  What was she doing out there?  Probably sulking.

Quickly, as he finished his business, he cleaned up, and hurried out the hall, down the stairs, and out the front door.

Liu was still standing on the hilltop by herself, as he approached her from behind.  He could here her crying as he drew nearer.

"Liu?"  He called out softly.  She turned around.  Her face was wet with tears.  Her eyes were puffy, and her hair was a mess.

"Keitaro!"  She sobbed out, and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him as she hugged him.  

"Hey," Keitaro exclaimed, her action surprising him because she had never initiated contact this forceful between them before.  His first reaction was to pull away, but found himself giving in, putting his arms around her and hugging her back.  

"Please, Keitaro, I beg you, stay here with me!"

Keitaro remained silent.  What should he do?  Stay, or look for Naru.  Whatever the decision, he would have to put up with its consequences. 

"Keitaro?"

If he went looking for Naru, he would risk capture again, and imprisonment.  However, he'd made his promise to Naru.  After everything he'd been through, it would be too easy to give up now.

However, on the other hand, Liu had been very kind to him.  She'd looked after him, cared for him, and wanted only love in return.  Nothing else.  She was truly in love with him, and she could offer him a normal life again.

His the discission, his the reward.  And his, the risk.

Suddenly, he grabbed her arms and held them tight, surprising Liu.  She whimpered slightly, looking deep into his eyes.  He looked back without feeling, until…

"Yes," Keitaro said softly, as his eyes changed to a more calm, almost loving state.

Then, he bent down, and kissed Liu of the lips.  He felt her go limp in his arms as their lips touched, sending almost an electric shock through his system.

Finally, he broke away, leaning back up.  Liu looked totally mesmerised.  "Keitaro…" she whispered softly.

"You're right, Liu," he whispered back to her.  "Thank you.  Thank you for you offer."  He let go of her, and stood up straight and tall.  "And I'd like to ac…  YAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!"

"Wat'cha do'n out here, hon?"  Kitsune asked, as she wrapped her arms around him.  As she did so, she slipped a hand inside his shirt, to lightly draw her fingertips across his chest.

"Kistune!?!"  Keitaro cried out in both alarm and surprise, "What on earth are you doing out here!?!"

"I could ask you two the same question," she hugged Keitaro a little tighter, "Speak'n of which, what are you two do'n out here?"

"That's none of your concern, Kitsune," Keitaro hastily replied.  

"Aww, come on!" Kitsune tickled Keitaro, making him squirm in his grasp, and making Liu growl with anger and a vein throb of her forehead.  "You can tell your friend!"

"Liu and I have to sort some things out, Kitsune," Keitaro replied, trying to dislodge Kitsune's grip.  "Do you mind?"

"Yeah," Liu said, thrusting her furious face into Kitsune's vision.  "So take a hike!"

"But Keitaro," Kitsune said, suddenly spinning around, to place Keitaro between her and Liu, "What about Naru?  Or don't you care about her anymore?"

Silently, Keitaro screamed at her.  Naru.  Why'd she have to bring her up again?  Why was he wishing she hadn't?  Why was he ready to accept Liu's offer for a better life?  

Damn it, things where just too frustrating!

"Keitaro?"  Liu cried out.

"Well, decide already, huh!"  Kitsune snapped back.

Finally, it was too much to bare, and it all snapped, like a wound up rubber band.  "Enough!"  Keitaro cried out, ripping free from Kitsune's grasp.  "Both of you, shut up!"

The two girls starred back at him in stunned silence. 

"Wow," Kitsune muttered, "You've developed a backbone.  I didn't think you had one."

"Honestly, Kitsune, what is your angle here?  Huh?  You always have an alternate angle!"

"There's none, I swear!"  Kitsune hastily said, waving one hand in front of her.  No one noticed that her other hand snaked behind her back, where she crossed two fingers.

Keitaro turned about so he didn't face any of the girls, and sighed.  "Keitaro?"  Liu asked, placing a worried hand on his shoulder.  "Are you okay?"

"No," he answered honestly.  "I'm not."  He glanced up at the moon.  "It's funny isn't it?"

"What?"

"This!  All of this.  Guys talk about being surrounded by hordes of beautiful women, about being the centre of attention.  Now I see it for what that really is.  But what's funny, is how reality has a way of screwing up a fantasy."  He closed his eyes.  "Or a dream."

"What are you saying, Keitaro?"  Liu asked.

"I fed up, that's what I'm saying," Keitaro said.  "I'm fed up being me.  I'm fed up being perhaps the only guy in the world.  I'm fed up being the object of everyone's attention.  Fed up of all the chasing.  But most of all, I'm fed up being fought over like some God, Damned, PRIZE!!!"  He shouted out the finally word, and it echoed all around.

The silence that followed seemed like hours.

"Wow," Kistune said, placing one hand up to her face.  "I've never seen you this open before.  It kinda makes you attractive…"

"Oh, can it Kitsune!"  Keitaro spat out, as he spun around to face the two girls.  "Ever since I came here, I've been forced to decide decisions no one should ever be forced to.  All you've been thinking about are your selves."

Liu stifled a tear.  "T-that's not true, Keitaro!"  She cried out.

"Is it?"  He said.  "What about me?  What about MY feelings?  Or don't they count!?!"  He threw his hands up over his head, and gripped it tightly in frustration.  "God, I can't believe I ever thought about living here with you!"

Liu suddenly cried out in alarm.  "Keitaro!  I didn't mean to… to…!"  She voice trailed out in a sad squeak, as her eyes began to fill up with tears.

"To what!?!"  He demanded.  "Ever since I arrived here, you've been throwing your self all over me like some floozy!  Trying to make me forget about Naru!  The TRUE girl I love."

That was it.  The final straw that broken the camels back.  The End sentence.  Call it what you like.  It sent Liu into tears.  Keitaro's face didn't even flicker.

"Why, Keitaro?"  She cried out.  "I loved you!  Why?  I thought you loved me?"

Keitaro screwed his eyes shut.  His the discission, his the reward.  And his, the risk.  "No."  He said.

It shot through Liu like a thunderclap.  She screamed out loud, and ran back into the house crying.  Keitaro stood there, shaking like a leaf, before spinning around, and punching the ground as hard as he could, causing a small mushroom cloud of dirt to rise, and the earth to splinter ever so slightly.

"FUCK!!!"  He roared, frightening even Kitsune.  His cry echoed, and re-echoed off the hills around.  Finally he collapsed to his knees, tears leaking through his clenched eyelids.

"Ummm," Kitsune said taking a step back, "I'll, Uhh, I'll go get the cart."

From the upstairs window, Liu's grandmother sighed as she turned away from the window.  She'd seen the entire scene unfold.  "Good-byes are never easy."  She said, as she walked away back to her bed.

"Why?"  Keitaro choked.  "Why did I have to say that?  Why was I forced to say those things?  WHY!?!"  His cry this time startled some birds, and they took to the night squawking like made.

Suddenly he felt more alone than he'd ever felt before.  He began to envy the dead.  All those men who'd died during the plague.  The millions who'd perished.  How he wanted to join them.  Just to open his arms, and welcome sweet, sweet oblivion.

It would be soooooo easy.  The pull of a trigger.  The sip of poison.  The slashing of steel.  

Naru.

All that remained was her.  She was his reason for this journey, the reason he was here.

"Hey?"  He didn't bother to look up.  "Are you ready to go?"  Slowly, he opened his eyes, and turning his head, he looked past the tears that blurred his vision, to see Kitsune waiting, not far from where he was standing.

"After everything you put me through, do you honestly expect me to just leave with you!?!"  Keitaro said through his teeth.

"Well," Kitsune said, exaggerating a thinker's pose.  "Let's look at it like this.  You've just told the girl who lives here that you don't love her, and broken her hart…"

"No thanks to you!"  Keitaro shouted back at her.

"…And," she said, interrupting him before he could continue.  "You are obviously striking out to go look for Naru, even though you have no previsions, no mode of transport, or no idea on where to start looking for her."

Keitaro's fists tightened.  He then let out a frustrated grunt, and collapsed on the ground, resting on his fists.

"Let's go," he muttered through his teeth.  Kitsune turned around, and headed back down to the cart, while Keitaro, slowly got to his feet, and followed her.

The air was cold and clammy, as Keitaro climbed up into the back of the wagon, while Kitsune climbed up into the front.  "Be sure not to mess up the merchandise back there, Sugar!"  She called out.

Keitaro didn't answer her.  Instead, he drew his legs up and hugged them to his chest, while he waited for Kitsune to get started.  He didn't wait long.  She cracked the whips, and together, they both began to leave.

As they pulled away, he quickly climbed over to the back, and looked out, one last time, at the farmhouse.  He wished he hadn't.  He caught one last look at Liu's despairing face, watching from the upstairs window.  Screwing his eyes shut, he gritted his teeth, then looked back up.

Liu was no longer there.

He lightly banged his fist on the side of the wagon, then let the covers fall back, as he leaned back in the wagon, and tried to go to sleep.

Kitsune glanced over her shoulder, watching Keitaro doze off, until he finally began to snore.

"Sleep tight, Keitaro," she whispered with a suppressed snicker.  "Tomorrow morn'n, you're going to need all the strength you've got."  She chuckled silently, as they drove off into the night.

**NORTHERN ALPS OF JAPAN: That Very Moment…**

The horses galloped along at high speed, kicking up a combination of snow and frozen mud, as they travelled along.  The two riders were cloaked, obscuring their faces, as they made their way through the forests.  From the woods themselves, only the wolves, out hunting saw these two women as they tore up the narrow muddy track.  They paid them little heed.

The forest grew thick around them, as they rode one behind the other, turning sharp corners, and nearly losing control.  Dead tree branches scraped at their heavy woollen cloaks, threatening to tear them off.  This did not despair the riders.

Then, with a burst of light, they broke out of the entangled forest, and shot out into an open snowy plane.  High above them, the full moon shone down with an eerie glow, making the white snow, seem to shine with a light of it's own.

The riders did not slow down, as they tore across the field.  They only increased their speed.  Of in the distance, loomed an ancient fortress from the days of Shoguns, when their armies marched north to secure this land.  It was old, crumpling and forbidding, and as the riders drew near, torchlight sprang up on the castle battlements.

The guard looked down at them, as the two riders screeched to a shuddering halt before the castle drawbridge.  

"Who goes there?"  She called out.

The lead rider reached into her pocket, and pulled out a small gold medallion.  She then reached back, and threw the object up the guard.  She caught it, and held it before her torchlight.  A few seconds passed, before the guard tossed the medallion back down to the rider.  She then disappeared from view.

A minute later, there was a loud click, followed by the sound of rusty metal gears whining as the drawbridge slowly lowered it's self down.

It landed with a muffled thump that seemed to echo all around the empty frozen plane.  The lead rider spurred her horse, and the two of them, raced into the castle's courtyard.

The lead rider pulled hard on her horse's rains, and the horse protested loudly, nearly throwing its rider.  Her companion, trotted up from behind and both riders dismounted with a quick leap, their wooden sandals echoing on the stone courtyard.

From the second floor, two guards in exactly the same cloaks made their way down the stone stairs, towards the riders, each one of them carrying an oil lantern.  They walked over to the newly arrived guests.  The guards looked almost identical, wearing the wide straw hats, and the cloaks that concealed their bodies.  Only the lead guard, who carried a samurai sword, prevented the two of them looking like mirror images. 

No words were spoken, as the lead guard and raider just nodded at each other, then the lead guard spoke.  

"The Clan elders are waiting for you both."  The lead rider nodded again, and turned to her companion, and motioned with a gloved hand.

"Come," she said, "We best not keep them waiting."  They followed the guards up the stairs, and into a dimly lit hallway.  It was cramped in this corridor, as there was barely enough room for the women to walk one behind the other.

Then, they came to a sliding door.  The lead guard motioned for all to stop, then walked up to the door, and opened it.  She then turned around, and nodded.  The rest of the group, walked inside.

Three old ladies sat on cushions, meditating.  Or what looked like it.  Beside them, lay a few more cushions that counted up to twelve.  All of them were empty.

The two riders entered the room, and the guard quickly closed the door.  Burning torches light the room, five in all, casting flickering shadows all around.

The riders walked up to the three old women, and bowed before them.  "Please," one of them said, "Be seated."

The two of them, then kneeled down on the floor, before the old ladies.  "I wish to thank you, clan elders, for the honour you have bestowed upon my self, and my sister!  It is all together, too kind."

"Your praises are welcomed, warrior," another elder said, "but inappropriate.  For it is your sister that must fulfil the task we have set at hand."  She then paused, to look at the other cloaked rider.  "Are you prepared for the task, young warrior?"

"Indeed I am, elders!"  She said.  "I have my mission, and know what I must do."

"Then all is acceptable."  The third elder spoke.  "Previsions, and equipment has been prepared for your journey, young warrior.  For alone, you must travel, if you are to be successful.  For only you, have had sufficient contact with our objective, in order to complete the quest we have assigned you."

"Yes, I am."  She replied.  "And I accept my mission with honour and dignity."

"You do understand the importance of your mission.  Should you fail, the future of our clan, as we know it, will cease to exist."

"I understand the gravity of my mission."  The young rider replied.  "But I'm up to the challenge, and more than capable of achieving our goal."

"Then rest, young warrior," the first elder said.  "For tomorrow, you leave.  Alone."

The young rider bowed, and then rose to her feet.  "I will not fail you, my elders.  Good night."  The other rider, bowed, then rose to her feet, and together, they left through the same door they entered. 

**THE NEXT MORNING…**

Keitaro yawned, and cracked open one eye.  The only thing that greeted him was the washboard abs of some muscle man.

He screamed, before jumping up, and realised, that someone had covered his face with one of those dirty girls magazines of Kitsune's.

"Rise and shine, Keitaro!"  Kitsune's voice floated in from outside somewhere.

"Very funny, Kitsune," Keitaro muttered, as he tossed the magazine aside.

"I assume you're talking about the centrefold?"  Kitsune asked.  "Well, you were sleeping so peacefully, I decided to cover your eyes with something so the morning light wouldn't wake you up."

"What's wrong with a blanket?"  Keitaro asked. 

"It wouldn't have been as funny as your reaction to the magazine."  Kitsune replied with a grin.

Keitaro just grumbled something unpleasant, as he pushed aside the wagon covers, and squinted into the morning sunlight.  He ended up rasing an arm in order to see.  Not that there was much to see, just a lone tall tree, a few bushes near the bas of the tree, a grassy area around the tree, that lead to a small sandy beach by a river.  No signs of life here.  

But what signs of life there were, made his jaw drop.

Kitsune was completely nude, bathing in the river, sitting down near the sandy bank, one leg gracefully up into the air, while rubbing some soap up it.  Her breasts were fully exposed above the water line, and glistened in the morning sun.

"Enjoying the view, Keitaro?"  Kitsune asked with her trademark predatory wink.

"GAH!!!"  Keitaro cried out, covering up his nose as blood began to gush out.  "Kistune!?!  What the hell are you doing!?!"

"Taking a bath, of cause," she answered, lowering that leg, and rasing the other.  "You don't honestly expect me to walk around all day smelling like a wild bore?"

"Point taken," Ketiaro answered, rasing his hand in front of his face, and spreading his fingers, so that they covered up all of Kitsune's exposed naughty bits.  "But could you at least try to stay as clothed as possible around me?  After what I went through last night, I really don't need any more women flashing their goodies at me."

"OOOOHHH!!!"  With lighting speed, Kitsune was at Keitaro's side.  "You cheated on Naru?  Tell me all about it!"

"WAAAGGGGGHHHH!?!"  Keitaro's eyes bulged as he saw Kitsune for all she was worth.  He covered his eyes.  "Please, Kitsune," he groaned, "Liu and I didn't do anything, and for the love of God, please, stop reminding me of Liu!"

"Awww, come on," Kitsune said, hugging him around the neck, and rubbing his head, with her knuckles.  "You can tell me.  What did the two of you get up to before I arrived."

"We didn't do anything!"  Keitaro protested, trying to break Kitsune's grip.  "Now please, stop talking about Liu!"

"Did you two go to bed?"

"I SAID KNOCK IT OFF!!!"  Kitsune was blown away by the force of Keitaro's anger as he leapt into the air and screamed at her.  He stood there, his eyes bulging, his face red, his teeth clenched, and breathing heavily.

"Wow!"  Kitsune moaned, as she lay of the ground in a tangle of limbs.  Exposing her nether regions to Keitaro, who immediately cried out in alarm, before blood began to rush forth from his nose, and he quickly vanished back inside the wagon.  "Well," Kitsune said, getting up, "You may have developed a back bone, but that part of your personality hasn't changed.  You're still the perverted Ronin you were before the plague."

"And you're still the scheming two-timing floozy, Kitsune," Keitaro's voice floated out from the depths of the wagon.  "So let's just get this over and done with before anything else rotten happens to screw up my life."  There was a long pause.  Then he asked, "Hey, were are you going, anyway?"

"Oh, not very far, just to the city north of here.  Noda.  I'm going to sell some more magazines.  Wanna help?  I'll deal you in on the profits."

"Kitsune," Keitaro said.  "I can't exactly walk around in public anymore, in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh, I've got that covered."  She reached into the wagon, and pulled Keitaro out.  "Come on, I've got something you can wear!"

"Hey!"  Keitaro protested as he was dragged along the ground.  "At least put something on!"

Within seconds, Keitaro was dressed in head to toe, in an Arab cloak with head covering.  Big dark shades covered his eyes, while the headpiece covered the rest of his face.  

"Ummm," Keitaro said, looking down at himself, "I want to look inconspicuous, not ridiculous!  Don't you have anything else?"

"Sorry, Sugar," Kitsune replied. "That's all I've got that'll hide you from the public eye."

He then turned to Kitsune, and asked, "Where on earth did you get this getup from?  And while where at it, what were you doing with my prescription shades in the first place?"

"Just in case I needed them," Kitsune said.  "I raided your cupboard for a lot of things before I left the Hinata Apartments."

Keitaro froze.  Then, slowly asked, "Did you take my photo book?"

"That thing, hell no, originally, I wanted too, but that was already gone by the time I left."  Keitaro breathed a sigh of relief.  So it was Naru who took it.  "You're not angry I raided your room, and stole some of your personal things?"

"I can't," he said, "I'm still angry at you for showing up and forcing me to chose between Naru and Liu."

"Oh, so you where going to give up on Naru?  After all the time you spent together, you're just going to ball up those memories and throw them away like a used tissue paper?"

"No!"  Keitaro cried out.  "Kitsune, it's not like that…!"

"That's the way it seemed to me, Keitaro," she replied, crossing her arms.  "You were so crazy over that girl, and even you told me that you went off looking for her.  Then, some cute girl comes along, and tries to get you to fall for her, and you're ready to give up," she snapped her fingers just inches from under his nose.  "Just like that!?!"

"Kitsune, please," Keitaro moaned, covering his face, trying to force out the bitter memories that had resurfaced.  "I don't want to be reminded."

"You can't blame me for what happened.  Heck, looking back on it all, I've been try'n to get you and Naru together ever since you first came here.  What happened last night was the same old Kitsune, back in action, try'n to make you remember what started this whole journey in the first place.  Are you just going to be the same three-year Ronin you once were, too afraid to admit your own feelings, and just running away from all hard problems?  Or are you going to buckle down, and conquer your problems and face the truth like a man.  What happened last night was for your own good Keitaro.  Trust me."

There was a five-minute silence, in which tumbleweed rolled past.  Kitsune raised an eyebrow at this.  "Now where the Sam Heck did that come from?"

"Let's just get out of here," Keitaro grumbled.

"All right then," Kitsune said as she dramatically pointed north.  "Noda City, here we come!"

***

Liu walked down the stairs, in an almost zombie like state.  Her eyes were puffy from crying all night long.  Her hair was up in the air, and her mouth had that ashtray taste to it.

Her grandmother said nothing as she came into the kitchen.  She just sat down at the table, and had her breakfast.  The two of them, sitting at opposite ends of the table, not saying a word to each other.

"You're just acting like a spoil child, Liu," her grandmother finally said, without looking at her.  "Keitaro would've left eventually, if not sooner.  So there's no use in getting all upset and blaming me."

"But I do blame you!"  Liu shot back, as she stood up from the table.  "Damn it, why did you have to go and ruin everything!?!"

"I refused to stand by and watch you destroy some other girls dreams, for the sake of your own, Liu," her grandmother replied.  "Now, is that fair?"

"But I was in love with Keitaro, Grandmother!"  She cried back.  "Really, I was in love with him!  All I wanted was some happiness."

"Stop right there!"  Her grandmother pointed a finger at her.  "See?  You said it your self.  'I.'  What about Keitaro?  What about his feelings?  All you really cared about was yourself, not him, just yourself."

"No!"  Liu cried out.  "You're wrong!"

"Am I?"  Granny replied.  "If I recall, you wanted Keitaro to forget all about the other woman, and focus on you!"

"Because I LOVED him!"  Liu shot back.  "Can't you understand!?!"

"All I understand is that he loved the other girl, not you."

"Damn it all, grandmother!"  Liu cried out.  "Were you aware of what happened between Keitaro and I last night?  All before that other floozy stepped in, he was ready to admit his love to me!  He was really to tell me that I was the one for him!"  She then banged a fist down on the table.  "AND SHE SCREWED IT UP!!!"

She paused, looking down at the large crack that now spread across the table from the impact point.

"You need to calm down, Liu," granny said.

"What I need is a plan!"  Liu answered.  "That girl, she was the reason he left me!  She forced Keitaro to say those things, the things he never wanted to say.  She forced him to leave!"

"Liu!"  Granny replied sharply.  "You're thinking irrationally!  You're letting your anger cloud your reasoning!  There was nothing you could do to prevent Keitaro from leaving.  His feelings for his true love, the girl you wanted him to forget, would've forced him to leave!"

"No!"  Liu cried out, shaking her head.  "Lies!  Keitaro would never have left me!"

"Liu!"

"Shut up!"  She cried out, clamping her hands over her ears.  "Shut up!  Shut up!  Just shut up!"  She then ran from the room, crying.

"Oh, Liu," Granny said with a sigh.  "You're just as fanatical as your grandfather."

Liu ran upstairs, and to her room, slamming the door behind her.  She then threw herself onto the bed, and burst into tears once more.

"Oh, Keitaro," she sobbed, "If only you'd been able to confess your true feelings, before… before…!"  She trailed off.  Slowly, her crying drifted off, until she was deadly silent.  She raised her head of the bed, revealing her eyes.

They were filled with hatred.  Rage.  Revenge.

"That woman!"  She growled.  "It was all HER fault!  She stole Keitaro away from me.  She forced him to say those things about me.  He would still be here, and all mine, if not for her!"

Suddenly, she was standing upright and tall.  Her brows furrowed in thought.  Her clenched fists quivered, her mouth was twisted. 

Slowly, her head turned towards the window.  Keitaro and Kitsune had left only last night, and she was heading towards Noda City.  That wasn't very far away.

Her eyes narrowed to slits.  Then it was decided.  She raised her fits and shook it at the window. "I'll get you, Kitsune!"  She said through clenched teeth.  "I swear, if I have to chase you to the ends of the earth, I will make you pay for all the pain you've caused me!  I swear!"

She then reached under the bed, and whipped out the samurai sword, and levelled it at the window.  Then brought it across in a lighting quick slash.

***

From the cover of the wooded ridge Keitaro looked down onto the town lying on the crossroads below.  It sure wasn't Tokyo, or Hinata City.  The river that was there, wound blue and serene between hills.  And the beautiful countryside of Japan was all around, verdant and vibrant green, even if the city that was there lacked quite a lot of the modern day necessaries.

Smoke curled from the chimneys of the wooden buildings below, nothing larger than two stories high.  Afternoon sunlight glinted off the glass windows of some of the buildings, the rest all boasted wooden shutters.  The entire town was arranged around a large square and it looked like it was market day.

Females scuttled through the streets and amongst the brightly coloured stalls in the square.  The 4x power magnification of binoculars Keitaro held was enough to let him pick out the various colours of the inhabitants' clothes.

"Why would you need these army issued binoculars anyway, Kitsune?"  Keitaro asked, as he lowered the binoculars, and handed back to Kitsune.  

"You never know when you need anything, Keitaro," Kitsune said, tossing back into the wagon.  "Besides, we need to scout out the area for the military.  They've been cracking down on looting everywhere these days, most cities are under martial law."

"Say, Kitsune," Keitaro asked, "Where exactly are you going?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular," she replied with a shrug.  "I'm just try'n to make a living in this new world now, and Gambling sports seems to have died along with the male population."

"Figures," Keitaro said.  "And what are you going to do once you run out of naughty magazines?"

"Hopefully, I'll have enough food and supplies to last the rest of my life, and live in luxury!"  She gave the 'V' sign to Keitaro, who just shook his head.

Instead, he asked, "So, what are we going to do, here?"

"It's market day, silly," Kitsune replied, pointing to the brightly coloured tents.  "Sell'n stuff here should be a piece of cake, after all, there are farmers here, sell'n their stuff!"

"I'll keep out of sight as much as possible," Keitaro said, hopping into the back of the wagon, "Let's just this over and done with.  Being surrounded by ladies is making me nervous!"

"So what else is new," Kitsune asked with a wink.  "You were like that back at the Hinata Apartments."

"Don't remind me," Keitaro replied, pulling on the gear Kitsune had given him in order to disguise himself.  "However, instead of worrying about being maimed, I have to worry about being raped."

"Oh come now," Kitsune said, "You honestly think that's going to happen?"

"Excuse me, but have you seen all those screaming women at rock consorts?"

"Good point," Kitsune said.  "So, let's keep you outta sight."

So they entered the town with Keitaro riding in the back of the wagon, hidden under some of the rugs.  As they rode along, Keitaro couldn't help but lift the rugs he hid under, to observe the city he was now entering.

First there were the small farms: Small clusters of buildings surrounded by their fields.  Cattle - deer, bison, and goats - roamed everywhere.

On the outskirts of the town lay the manors: the homes of the affluent, set among shady, stately trees and grass: not manicured lawns but long, wild grasses that stirred languidly in the heavy breeze.  They were beautiful, those estates: white walls with exposed beams stained lamp black – Tudor.  Big, rambling affairs with glass in the mullioned windows.

Just outside the city were the rundown piles of lumber that the lowest classes called home.  They had their own streets; dusty little alleys branching off everywhere.  Inside the city were the rest, the ones who fell into the middle class, traders, dealers, hawkers, along with business of all kinds crammed into the walls.

Small, narrow streets laid out to no set plan, just placed according to whim and need.  Noise: that was everywhere.

A modern city is has its own pulse: the beat of traffic, sirens, bustling humanity, shouting, engines, planes, and music.  In the night halogen and neon lights beckon while spires of reinforced concrete create their own skyline with uncounted millions of illuminated windows.  The streets throb to the subway hurtling beneath them and humanity is a never-ending flow and ebb, like the tides, regular as the night and day: Vendors, salesmen, loners, delinquents, businessmen, punks, mavericks, pimps, fat-rich countesses, hookers, winos, teenagers, actors, children, queens, losers, writers, dreamers, drifters... A true city can be a representational cross-section of humanity.  It was an exhilarating, terrifying experience to an out-of-towner, but just everyday life to the city born.  

Now, all that was gone.  No electricity showed it's self anywhere.  There were a few lights, but they were powered in special places, like the hospital, and the police stations.  Instead of the usual sights, there were women everywhere, much like when he'd gone into Kyoto.  Here and there, cars lay abandoned, rusting in the mid morning sun.  People were travelling by horse and cart, bicycles, even roller skates.

Keitaro almost laughed.  This city was alive in its own way.  The shouting of pedlars, hawkers, and merchants competing with the bass rumble of heavy wheels and the clamouring of animals.  The scene almost reminded Keitaro of a mixture of ancient Feudal Japan, with the modern 21st century.

Kitsune seemed to know where she was going, slipping into the halting flow of creaking, rattling animal-drawn vehicles, shouting out abuse at other wagoners and pedestrians.  

It wasn't long, before she pulled off the street and into a gateway leading to a small cobbled court surrounded by doorways with wooden gates blocking off the lower half.   

A strong animal smell permeated the air and various animal heads poked out of the stalls; Keitaro recognised the horses.  Must be a stable.

"We're here!"  Kitsune said into the back of the wagon.  "Now, just stay out of sight, until I call for you."  Then she was gone.  It was quite some time before she returned.  

"You can come out now."  Keitaro punched and kicked his way out from under the rug piles, and – for what felt like an eternity – stood and stretched his muscles.  "Come on!"  She urged, looking around nervously.

Keitaro had no choice but the follow.

It was a two-storey building with a picture of what looked like a white coloured, wolf hung above the door.  The sign also had a line of that text: done in black paint, that called this place, the 'White Fang' Inn.  

Keitaro quickly wrapped himself up in the garb that Kitsune had given him in order to disguise himself, and put on the shades.  Kitsune then grabbed the huge door handles, and yanked it open.  "Come on," she said, grabbing Keitaro by his collar and yanking him inside as well.

They descended a dark staircase, which was lit by candlelight, and as the reached the bottom; oil lamps, hanging form the ceiling, lighted the lights.  There were women everywhere down here.  They all sat around circular tables, talking, eating, and drinking.  To the left, was a bar, and to the right, were private booths, where women were conducting business of some sorts.

Keitaro swallowed nervously, and moved closer to Kitsune.  Kitsune on the other hand, walked over to the far side of the room, where a woman sat behind a desk that was protected by what looked like bulletproof glass.  

The woman on the other side was reading a book, and smoking a cigarette.  She didn't even flinch as Kitsune banged a fist on the counter top to get her attention.  Instead, she just rolled a lazy eye up, and asked, "Yes?"

"One room please, for my partner and I."

"It's two cans of food per person for one week," the woman replied, sliding her vision back to her book.

"Here," Kitsune said, reaching into her coat, and pulling out four cans of food, and placing them down on the counter.  "Anything else?"

"Sign here."  She slid a book out from under the glass, and a pen.  Kitsune signed her name in, and then passed it to Keitaro.

"Ummm," Keitaro hesitated.

"Just sign a false name," Kitsune whispered to him.

"Okay," Keitaro said, and signed in his name as 'Naru Narusegawa,' then slid it back under the glass.  The woman gave it a side-glance, before sliding a key under the glass.

"Second floor, 2G."  Was all she said, and nothing more.

"Come on, Naru," Kitsune said, dragging Keitaro along.

As they walked up the stairs, Keitrao wasn't aware that they were being watched.  From the dark corners of the room, a shadowy figure watched from the safety of a private booth.

The figure stared long and hard at the two, as they walked up the stairs, and out of sight.  She then turned to face the other woman, hidden in the darkest corner of the booth.

"That's a man, alright," she said in a low voice, as not to be heard.  "The fox-woman was right.  She IS travelling with a living man."

"I really didn't believe her at first, but are you sure, it really is a man?"

"The physic is all wrong, to be a woman.  If you look right at him, and for a long enough period, you can tell."  She looked back to the staircase Keitaro had taken.  "So, what are we going to do?"

"We wait," the other woman replied.  "Let this Kitsune, person come back to us with her demands.  Then we'll act."

***


	5. Lies, Spies & Mafia Guys Err, Girls Pt ...

**AN: **_Great Flapping Monkey Drawers! It's been a while, hasn't it. What's been the hold up? Well, instead of saying something like work, or Writers Block, I'll try something more believable, like I was kidnapped by aliens, and sent to a distant planet to fight in a 'To-The-Death' match against universal champisons. How's that?_

_Anyhow, should such great delays take place again, you'll know what's going on. PS, I've recently had an annoying bout with some shit head by the pen name, 'Frenchy Pommey,' sending flames against me in other people's pen names. Should any of you find that you've been block from reviewing my stories, let me know. I'll fix it as soon as possible._

_Also, special thanks to those who helped out with Chapter 4. Your help is greatly apreciated. Now that's over and done with, let's begin._

**Come over to my side of the argument, the view is always so clear from over here.**

** - Axident.**

"Here we are," Kitsune said, looking up at the sign above the door. "2G. This is our room."

"Oh, goody," Keitaro said, as Kitsune unlocked the padlock on the door. She slid open the door, and giggled at the sight that greeted them. Keitaro's eyes bulged.

"Why are the futon's both in the same room!?!"

"I guess that you and I will be spending the night in the same room, eh?" She began to get way too close for comfort.

"Oh no we are NOT!" Keitaro said, quickly dislodging her from him. "Knowing you, you're going to get drunk, and end up climbing into MY futon with me while I'm asleep…"

"…And Naru will come in and find us together, and pound the living tar outta you?" She suddenly latched onto his chest, "I hate to break this to ya, K' Meister, but in case you haven't noticed, Naru's no where to be seen."

"No," Keitaro said, forcing her off once more, "I don't want to end up with you in my futon."

"Awwww," Kitsune said, grabbing his cheeks, and forcing him to smile, "You really don't mean that!"

"Yes I do, Kitsune," Keitaro said, forcing her off, so that she fell off him and landed on her futon. "No matter where I go, you've always caused me trouble. Way too much, that has resulted in unnecessary pain for me. Even your recent reappearance caused me to say things I never wanted to say."

"Yawn," Kitsune mocked a good morning stretch. "Do I have to listen to this boring old Soap again?"

Keitaro stared at her. "Don't you care about anything, Kitsune?" He finally asked.

"Of cause I do," she said, "I care about my merchandise, I care about my booze, and I also care about…"

"That's way too much information," Keitaro said, turning away. He then looked left, and right, and opened a door, that led into a bathroom. That was it. "Hey," he said, "This is a one room apartment!"

"So?" Kitsune said, coming up from behind, and sneaking her hands around his chest.

"So," Keitaro said, slapping her hands away, "We're going to be sleeping in this room together. And you're the last person I want to do that with."

"You sure about not sleep'n together, hon?" Kitsune cooed, moving closer to him, "You don't know what you're miss'n out on."

"Yes I do," Keitaro said, forcing her hands from the insides of his shirt. "Now, if we're going to be sleeping in the same room together, I'm going to set up a few things."

"Like what?"

KA-THUMP!!! A large portable wall was dumped down between the two futons. Keitaro pointed at it with a wagging finger. "Like this," he said sternly. "We don't cross this wall when we go to bed, and we get changed in there!" He pointed at the bathroom.

"You're no fun," Kitsune said, faking a depressed look. "So now that we've got the sleeping arrangements worked out, shall we get started?"

"Started on what?" Keitaro looked flushed. "Y-You aren't going to…?"

"Sell'n the merchandise, silly," Kitsune said, holding up some magazines. "Now, let's get go'n!"

Some time later, the two were down at the markets, standing behind a desk, with Kitsune shouting out like a newspaper boy, trying to sell newspapers.

It was embarrassing, but it worked. Girls of all kinds would turn their heads, and wonder over. The magazines sold rather fast, and Kitsune was only whiling to sell a certain amount of magazines per town.

A lot of girls went away in a bad mode, at not getting a magazine.

"Gee," Keitaro muttered, as the last of the girls left. "Are they really that desperate?"

"Keitaro, you have to understand the times. The repopulation programs aren't what they seem."

"What do you mean?"

"The repopulation centre isn't one big brothel, it's actually a huge artificial insemination centre. People estimate it should take roughly eighty to ninety years to repopulate."

"So that means…?"

"Geez," Kitsune groaned, slapping her face. "It means there's no sex involved you fool!"

"Oh," he then raised an eyebrow, "Then…"

"I don't know what goes on in those places, I only know from what I've heard from other women." Kitsune replied. "But many suspect that those in power, are gett'n it on with the remaining boys. If you listen around, a lot of women will agree with that theory."

"And the point of this conversation is…?"

"Even though women don't think about sex as much as men do, doesn't mean that we don't think about sex. Before the plague, we could pick and chose. Now, you'd be lucky to have sex once before you die of old age."

"B-But you said that the world could be repopulated in eighty to ninety years?" Keitaro said.

"That was an estimate, and that was only for this country, not the world." She shrugged. "And that's providing that Japan get's all the recourses she needs. Don't forget, we weren't swimmi'n in natural recourses before the plague."

Keitaro went pale. "Is this just a ploy to get into my pants?" He asked hesitantly.

"Keitaro, honestly, you should be ashamed of your self."

"I'm sorry, Kitsune…" She then grinned and interrupted him.

"If I wanted to get into your pants, I'd just go for it, not waist time yapp'n!" Keitaro made a face.

"Isn't that rape?"

"Maybe, but how's about we just call it surprise sex?"

"Everything about you is a surprise, Kitsune." Keitaro said with a mean expression, as he glared at Kitsune. "And there are some surprises I'd rather not find out, so let's just get outta here."

"Ooohhhh," Kitsune said, latching onto Keitaro, "Is that the secret code word tell'n me that you wanna do it?" She then began to fiddle around with his belt. "Why wait, let's just do it right here."

"Back off!" Keitaro then punched Kitsune right through the stall they were using and she sailed through the air, before landing in a tangled heap a few feet away.

A few women were giving them strange looks. "Freak." Someone said. Keitaro looked about, then quietly, slank back into the shelter of the stall.

"Way to keep a low profile, Keitaro," Kitsune whispered from behind him.

"And who's fault is that?" Keitaro hissed back, as they started packing. "Just keep your hands to yourself, please!"

"Awwww," Kitsune said, hugging him again, "You really…" She suddenly, paused, and then roughly shoved Keitaro to the ground. Keitaro couldn't see what was going on, but saw Kitsune smiling nervously, and waving frantically, for a minute, before she went back to normal. Or whatever normal was considered for her.

"What's the big idea?" Keitaro whispered up at her.

"Soldiers." Kitsune replied. "A whole squad of them."

"Soldiers?" Kitsune covered up his mouth before he could speak anymore.

"Quite!" She then looked left and right, and then motioned for Keitaro to get up. He looked about carefully, before getting up. Looking down at his outfit he began to wounder weather or not it was such a good idea.

"Why did you have to dress me up in this cock-a-mammee outfit anyway? The moment the soldiers spot me, they'll know it's me under all this!"

"Well, excuse me for not carry'n a costume that'll cover you up completely. Sorry but that thing was all I had. It was ether this, or walk around as your really are, and both know how far you'd get looking like that, so quit complaining!" She looked back in the direction of the soldiers, and gritted her teeth in thought. Keitaro didn't really think much about this, until she accidentally made her thoughts vocal. "This wasn't in my plan!"

"What plan was that?" Keitaro asked. That seemed to fluster her, and she suddenly shoved boxes into his arms, obscuring his view.

"Look, just carry all these boxes, and no one will be able to see your face, now, come on!" She then led him away, back to their room.

-----------------

"Just a castaway, an Island lost at sea. Another a lonely day, with no one here but me. More loneliness, than any man could bear. Rescue me before I fall into dispar." Keitaro sang in a low voice, as he lay down on the Futon, staring up at the ceiling. "I hope that someone gets my… Message in a bottle."

He quietened down as he heard footsteps walking past his door. They stopped, and the door opened, to reveal Kitsune. She looked around behind her, then, stepping inside, closed the door.

"Well?" He asked.

"The whole town is crawling with soldiers. More than necessary in order to keep law and order. No, no, no. They're look'n for something."

"Take three guesses," Keitaro said, looking back up at the ceiling.

"Well, ain't you just the popular guy." She lowered her voice. "Too popular for my like'n."

"Hmmm?" Kitsune hastily waved the comment away.

"Nothing," she said with a forced smile.

"What are you hiding, Kitsune?"

"Hiding? Me? Why, Keitaro, what on earth makes you think I'm hiding something?"

"Call it a man's intuition, Kitsune," Keitaro said, getting up. "Just what is it you're hiding?"

Suddenly, her hand went behind her back, and pulled out a sake bottle. "Ta-Da!" She cried out. "This! This is what I was hiding. And it's all mine!" She hid it away from him, "And you can't have any of it! MINE!!!" She then hissed at him like a cat.

"Whoa, calm down," Keitaro said, backing off. "I'm not going to touch your precious sake." He turned around, and sat back down on his futon. "Besides, one of the many purposes of alcohol is to bring out the asshole in everybody."

He wasn't able to lie down, when two strong arms wrapped around his neck and began to choke him. "What was that!?!" Kitsune said through her teeth.

"Ack…! Not-thing!… --ACK!!!"

"Good," Kitsune replied with a smile, as she let go, and Keitaro tumbled to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Where did you get that, anyway?"

"I won it at the tables."

"Huh?" Keitaro looked surprised. "I though you said gambling was dead?"

"You don't listen to anything I say. I said only gambling sports, not gambling all together. And besides, the only reason there are no gambling sports, is that people have other things to worry about at the moment. Once things are stabilised enough, I think that gambling sports will make a triumphant return."

**SOMEWHERE, IN SOUTHERN JAPAN…**

Two female soldiers are driving along in an army truck. The passenger is busy twisting the dials, receiving nothing but static, and armed forces chitchat.

"I wonder when they'll actually get some radio stations up and running?"

"What are you talking about?" The driver asks. "They've got that station on…"

"I'm talking about entertainment radio stations, not government run information programs."

"Well, let's look at things like this. Japan ain't exactly full of natural recourses, and power stations do require coal to run, something we don't have very much off. And don't forget, the plague killed off 95% of the world's commercial pilots, truck drivers, and ship captains, thus screwing up the wonderful world of transport. So, importing things like food, and fuel have become a priority."

"And the point of this is…?"

"We can't waist our precious few recourses on things like entertainment, when half the country is without power, and the other half, is without food."

"God, I miss the good old days."

"So do you, me, and three point one, billion others. However, unless you want to sit down and try to discover the secret of time travel, It'd be better if you just be quite and be grateful that you've got three square meals a day."

"I hate you." She then looked out the window, and sighed. "This shift would be a lot better if you were a man."

"Well, excuse me for being born," the driver said. "And since we're being honest, you aren't exactly someone I'd go out with ether."

"Oh, you're just saying that because…" She trailed off, as she stared out the front window.

A twin piston engine cargo plane was flying directly for them.

"What the…!?!"

"HOLY SHIT!!!!" The driver screamed, and swung hard on the wheel. The plane's belly hit the road, drawing a bellowing cape of sparks behind it, as it travelled directly for the truck. The truck swung violently, and went up on its side, half of its wheels in the air.

The plane bounced a bit, as if trying to gain some altitude. It barely passed the truck, it's wing just clipping the side of the truck, sending it back down on all wheels with a shuddering jolt that nearly snapped both axels.

The two women clung on for dear life, as the truck bounced from the impact, sending all wheels into the air.

Behind them, the plane started skimming along the road, and finally, after hitting a tree, was sent back up into the air. It did a barrel roll, before climbing into the clouds, and disappearing from view.

"Oh, my, God!" The driver cried out. "What the hell was her problem!?!"

"Jesse!" The passenger gasped out, clutching her heart. "Where'd she learn to drive like that!?!"

The driver was about to concur, when she paused. Then asked, "Huh? Drive? Don't you mean fly?"

"Yeah, fly? Why, what did I say?"

"You said drive. Where did she learn to drive like that?" The passenger frowned.

"Strange. Now, why would I say that?"

"Maybe that pilot is a really bad driver?"

They both shrugged.

**NODA CITY…**

Sitting on a foldout chair, a girl was happily leafing through a copy of one of Kitsune's naughty girl magazines. She paused, to turn the magazine sideways, and folded out the centre-fold.

"Ooooooh, yeah!" She mussed. Just then, a shadow passed over her light, and she made a face. "Hey, beat it! You're blocking my sun…!"

Just then, the magazine was snatched from her grasp. She was about to protest, when she saw the girl who'd taken it. She didn't seem interested in the magazine, but seemed to recognise it.

Her face showed anger, as she held its cover up to her.

"This! This magazine! Where did you get it!?!"

"That' mine!" She shouted. "Get your own…! EPP!!" She was suddenly cut off, as a rather large samurai sword suddenly appeared under her nose.

"Again, where did you get this!?!"

"It's all yours," she replied. "Just please, don't kill me!"

It was suddenly thrown back into her lap. "I don't want it! What I want, is to know where you got it!?!"

"T-two saleswomen, they were set up in the market about three hours ago. They're g-gone now. I don't know where they went. Honest!"

"Where about's were they?"

"Just s-seven stalls down from the main intersection." She looked down and pointed in the direction. "Honest!"

The sword withdrew and was hidden under a cloak. The woman then left without another word, disappearing into the crowd.

"Freak!" She muttered. Then went back to looking at the centre fold. "Ooooh yeah!"

-----------------

The White Fang inn's main bar was packed like it usually was in the afternoon. The two females in the dark corner of the room at their booth were talking among themselves, keeping a low voice so that they wouldn't be herd.

"Why are we the only people in this whole place wearing cloaks with hoods? We stick out like a sore thumb!"

"Oh shut up! Besides, I look really cool in this get-up!" The other woman snapped. "What's the point of dragging me out here?"

"That Fox woman girl approached me half an hour ago. She's nervous about all the soldiers in the town. She wants to call off our little deal."

"Call it off? I don't think so."

"Just as so. I let her keep the sake bottle we gave her as down payment. I just thought I'd let you know she plans on skipping town first thing early tomorrow morning."

"And with all the soldiers around, dose she obviously think she'll get past the check points without being searched?"

"She didn't tell me the details, she just told me her plans."

"Well, where is she going from here?"

"She didn't say!"

"Fine." The other woman snapped. "Then we move tonight. Do you at least know what room they are in?"

"2G," she replied. "I have some spare keys of my own." She reached into her cloak and pulled out what looked like a thick bobby pin.

"Let's try and make as little noise as possible doing this," the other woman said. "The last thing we need are more women finding out that there's a living male among them."

"Speaking of which, how are we going to get him past all the soldiers?"

"Through the sewer system," was her answer. "They aren't guarding the pipes that lead out of here."

"Well, with all that settled, when do we strike?"

"What dose your watch say?"

"5:16." The other woman looked at her watch.

"We'll meet back here at 8 o'clock on the dot. We'll wait for everyone to go to bed, and then," she held out her palm, and then quickly made a fist. "We strike." She then banged her fist down on the table, making everything on it jump.

There a was a few seconds silence, before, "Did that hurt?"

The woman shook her hand. "Oh yeah."

**TOKYO: At that very moment…**

Major Kiska stalked out of the council room in a temper. All women coming in her direction quickly moved out of the way. She ignored their looks, and walked over to a set of double doors, pushing them open, making a grand entrance into the room.

"Good evening, Major," Dr. Mela said, looking up from a packet of instant noodles. "You're looking as cheerful as I've ever seen you."

The Major didn't say anything, as she just saluted Mela with her middle finger, and made her way over to the sink, where a packet of instant noodles was waiting for her.

She then sat down at the opposite side of the table, and dug into her meal.

"Since your still in here with me, I take it you want to talk about something?"

The Major slurped up some noodles rather loudly, and swallowed even louder. She glared at the doctor, then said, "I'm sick of this job. Really, I am. It's getting on my nerves."

"Then quit!" Dr. Mela replied. "Wise man say, 'pick a job that you love, and you'll never work a day in your life," she ate another mouthful. "So what's stopping you?"

"My father," she said. "He's dead now. God I hated him. Always going on, about how women shouldn't be in the armed forces, and should be at home, looking after their husbands." For a moment, she almost smiled. Almost. "His death was perhaps the one good thing to come out of the plague."

"Yow!" Dr. Mela leaned back at bit from the Major. "So why did you join the army in the first place?"

"Just to piss him off," the major replied. "You know, I originally wanted to be a doctor! But my father wouldn't here of it. He was always going on about how I didn't need to work, and that my future husband would provide for me. My mother was no help ether. So, one day, I upped, and left for the army. I wish I could've seen his face when he opened the letter he got from me telling him that I got accepted into the army."

"You could've studied to be a doctor in the military, Major," Mela said. "So how come you aren't a medic?"

"That was the original plan." She said. "I so wanted to anger my father, showing him I could be just as macho as any man. That hatred made me fall in love with the training, and the heavy-handed stuff. I guess being in the regular army, and not the medical core was my way of proving him wrong about me."

Mela just blinked back at her. "Oh."

"What about you, Doctor?" The Major asked. "Any skeletons in your closet?"

"Just three bad relationships," she replied with a shrug. "Just one jerk after another. Did you know, my last boyfriend, dumped me for my sister?"

The Major chuckled. "Well, at least he stuck to family." Mela slapped her arm.

"That's not funny." The Major laughed again.

"But it is, don't you see?" Dr. Mela shook her head.

"See what?"

"Throughout history, women have been nothing but the objects of men. Slaves, or second-class citizens. Not taken seriously, always portrayed as weak, and not as smart as a man." She paused, and then pointed her shop sticks at the Doctor. "Did you know back in the nineteenth century, the reason women weren't allowed the vote, anywhere in the civilised world, was because it was believed that a woman's brain was smaller than a mans; there for, a woman couldn't possibly make the important decisions that a man could."

"And the punch line is?"

"Now it's reversed. Men are nothing but second-class citizens, with no rights. Just objects to us. Hell, I heard an interesting story about one man in the repopulation centre complaining he was no longer a human being, and nothing more than a _slave_." She let the word roll of her tongue, so that Dr. Mela would understand.

Dr. Mela just shrugged. "No wounder you relish your position."

"Throughout my life, men have always found a way to cause me problems." She stared around her noodles in the cup. "Just like Keitaro."

"Still MIA?" The Major nodded. "Nothing from Noda?"

"All quite on the western front," The Major replied. "I just got out from being chewed up by the Prime Minister over my failure to find him."

"Ouch!"

"There's been a few incidents in Europe, with governments stealing males from one another. The government here is just paranoid the same things going to happen to us."

"The submarine?"

"We've sent a few cables to Australia. They deny the whole thing. And of cause everything is made harder, by the fact that satiate photo's can't prove it ether."

"That doesn't make any sense, if the Australian's wanted to steal males, why not do it from some place closer, like New Zealand, or Indonesia, or New Guinea?"

"You don't think we've thought about that already? Although we can't rule stealing our males out, the fear is, that they know something we don't. But what?"

"Well, that place was the last to be infected by the Super Flu."

"That doesn't explain anything," the Major replied. "For one week straight, we've intercepted nothing but transmitions off the coast in a code the Australian Navy uses, and then, silence. Why would they hug our coast for over a week, and then disappear?"

"And if they're denying the presence of their submarines in our waters," Dr. Mela said, "Then it's something they don't want us to know about." She paused. "What if they're waiting for someone?"

"Who?"

"Don't know that answer. But what if they're waiting to someone, or something to appear? A currier? An agent planted in this country?"

"…And the list goes on, and on." The Major replied. "What else could they want?"

"We aren't hiding any advanced alien spaceships are we?"

"Doctor, please, this is serious."

"Okay," Dr. Mela said, then quickly looked back at the Major. "But really, do we?"

"No, we don't!" The Major snapped.

**NODA CITY…**

Keitaro and Kitsune sat cross-legged on their futon's, looking over a map of the whole city. They were discussing their plans to leave the city early next morning.

"Okay," Kitsune said, "This is what we are going to do." She then pointed at her futon. "I'm going to lie down there, and drink my sake, while you come up with a plan, Keitaro." She then stretched out, and lay down.

Keitaro just glared at her. "Why Kitsune? Of all the girls I could've run into, why her?"

"Say somethin' sugar?" She asked, pouring herself a drink.

Keitaro shook his head, as he looked back down at the map Kitsune had… browed from the public library, and scrutinised all the exits. "They're more than likely to have all roads and rail lines guarded. To just simply walk out of here, will do us no good."

"Already know that," Kitsune called out between sips.

"What about the sewers?" Keitaro asked. "Do the sewer systems lead out of the city?"

"Maybe," Kitsune said, getting up, and looking at the map. "But how am I going to get my wagon and merchandise through the sewers?" She giggled.

"I'm suggesting that I take the sewer route, Kitsune," Keitaro replied, ignoring her joke. "Are you sure you're not drunk?"

"Why," She asked, grinning at him. "You afraid I'm going to try and get into your pants?" She tugged at the waistline.

"Yes," Keitaro said, slapping her hand away. "Please, can we try to stick to the subject?"

"Awwww," Kitsune moaned, lying back down, "You're no fun." Keitaro turned back to the map at hand.

He pointed to a large red line that lead out of the city. "This line here! The map says that this is a major pipeline. If the soldiers aren't guarding this area, I can take it out of the city, and meet up with you, after you get past all of the check points."

"So, you still wanna hang out with me, huh?" Kitsune said, sitting up, and casting him a lustful look. "Are you sure you're not playin' hard to get?"

"The only reason I'm still hanging out with you, Kitsune, is that you're the only person I know around here, and I can't survive on my own." He was silent for a few moments, then thought to himself, Well, for the moment.

"What are you think'n 'bout, sugar?" Kitsune asked. "Are you thinking about how quite a couple we'd make?"

"Kitsune," Keitaro said keeping an eye on her movements, "you are well aware that I'm no longer capable of getting into Tokyo U?"

"I know that," Kitsune replied, "Just because I know that you can't support me, doesn't mean that I don't want you."

"Huh?" Kitsune moved closer to Keitaro.

"You know, the way you've matured over the past few months is very cute. This world is fast making a man out of you, Keitaro, and that makes you all that more attractive."

"R-Really?" Was it his imagination, or where the lights getting dim in here.

"Of cause," Kitsune replied, moving her face closer to his. "I must admit, that even though I've been trying to get you and Naru together, I've always held out that maybe," she turned away from him. "That maybe, I could get you."

"Kitsune," Keitaro started, but she placed a finger on his lips, silencing him.

"Come on, Keitaro." She said in a soft voice. "You didn't end up with Liu for a reason. Maybe fate, destiny, or God has kept you alive for a reason, after all, how did you survive the plague?"

"Natural immunity?" Keitaro suggested. "That's how all the other guys survived, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah," Kitsune said with a shrug, "But why you? What makes you special? Maybe it's the power of the Hinata House, or…" She removed her finger, and her face started to drift towards his. "Or maybe, it's something else." Her words drew of in a low hiss.

And then, she kissed him.

Her lips were locked onto his before he knew what was happening. His eyes bulged and his arms jerked slightly, but halted. Why? Why was he not preventing this?

One of Kitsune's hands cupped his cheek, and he began to tremble. What on earth was he doing? Accepting a woman's love, that's what one part of his brain was screaming at him, while the other half was shouting at him to stay loyal to Naru.

He closed his eyes. What should he do!?!

His right hand rose, to grip her arm, and tell her to stop. But he hesitated. He willed his hand to move, to push Kitsune away, but he couldn't. Instead, it just shook in mid air.

Then, slowly, reached over, and hovered above her breast.

Alarm bells were blearing out loudly inside his head. Enough sweat was rolling of his face to fill Lake Victoria. It was taking every ounce of self control to prevent his hand from lowering a few inches and gripping her.

Just a few inches.

Then, it all gave way. Like watching a tall tree collapse, his hand lowered, and touched her fabric of her shirt. The shirt was very thin, and the flesh beneath was warm, and felt soft.

He let out the air he was holding, and he reached up his other hand to cup Kitsune cheek.

"Kitsune…" He whispered.

One side of his brain was singing 'halleluiah,' while the other was as silent as a tomb.

"Keitaro…" She whispered back, drawing one hand down his shirt. He didn't stop her. IT created an electrifying tingle that travelled up his spine, and snapped his eyes open.

"No," he said softly, gripping her hands, "T-this is wrong." He removed her hands from his body.

"Is it?" Kitsune asked? She pulled one hand from his grasp, and if he hadn't acted as fast as he did, she would've grabbed his crotch. "Why so hesitant? Just a few seconds ago, you were ready to go the full monty."

"Please, Kitsune," Keitaro said in a stern voice, "I wish to stay loyal to Naru. Please, stop coming onto me!"

"Oh really, you think that's going to hold on the next girl? And the girl after that?"

"What are you saying?"

"You remember what Liu was like don't you?" Keitaro's face went almost deadly. "You were lucky Keitaro, she was nice and kind. But what about the next girl you run into? Don't forget, you're a very rare item now, among millions of women who have lost their husbands and boyfriends. What if the next girl you run into isn't as nice? What if you end up getting raped, or worse?"

"Then what can I do?"

"What can you do, Keitaro?" Kitsune asked. "What can anyone do? But I can tell you what you can do. The human race existed because a man and a woman can create another man and woman. And so on and so on."

"Yes, I ready know that," Keitaro said. "What's the point?"

"The point is that now, that there are very few men left at all, anymore. Do you really think that you are special enough to live your own life? Is that something you can live with? Running from one hiding hole to the next, like a hunted animal? Always looking over your shoulder, wondering when they'll be coming for you…"

"Shut up!" Keitaro cried out, as he covered his ears. "Why are you saying these things?"

"Because, you're just living in denial, Keitaro." Kitsune placed a hand on his chest, and suddenly pushed. Keitaro found himself laying on his back, with Kitsune hovering over him. "You want to live a life free of being hunted, the way I see it, you've only got two options. One, you can climb a bell tower and make a leap of faith, or…" She paused, holding up one finger, that she slowly lowered to his fly. "Accept the inevitable."

"No," Keitaro grabbed at her hands.

"Oh, wise up, Keitaro," Ktisune said. "Look, you're a good boy, Keitaro, and you really don't deserve the life you're living now, but if you want to live someplace where you'll have three proper square meals a day, and not constantly looking out for your self, then you've got to realise that the only way you can do that, is to go into the repopulation program, and that means that the only thing you would need to do for the rest of your life, is to fuck. A lot."

"That's not funny, Kitsune," Keitaro said.

"I wasn't trying to be." She replied. "I'm just stating the cold hard truth. Face it, you're nothing now. You have no rights, hell, as far as the government is concerned, you're government property."

"Stop it!" Keitaro's hand came across and slapped her. Hard. "Why did you say those things!?! Why!?!"

Kitsune placed a hand on the spot where he'd hit her. "I… I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you, that's all," she answered.

"By telling me my life would be better as a sex slave!?!"

"It's not that," she muttered, turning away from him, slightly embarrassed. "You see, Keitaro, I do have feelings for you. Honest to God feelings of love." She turned back to face him. Her face was slightly red, and getting redder. "Watching you grow up all these years, and watching you grow a spine, changing from the weakling coward we all knew…" She placed a hand over her mouth. "There have been times when I wanted to steal you away myself."

"But why should I give myself up?" Keitaro asked.

"When you told me your story, of how you ran away to look for Naru… I got jealous. Do you know what I would've done to have a boyfriend like you!?! I only wish I'd tried to come onto you earlier." Her hand lowered from her mouth, and meet with Keitaro's hand. He didn't stop her. "Even if I couldn't see you, being in the repopulation centre, I would know that you would be alive and well taken care off."

"Kitsune…?"

"I did feel something for you, during the days of the plague, when we all though you were dead. Did you ever stop to think; why I was the only person you came into contact with after the plague? Maybe fate has drawn us together. Maybe… you and I are destined to be together. Not you and Naru."

No words were spoken, as they looked into each other's eyes. Was it fate that had drawn them together? He did admit, when Kitsune had come onto him all those times before the plague, he'd been attracted to her.

Keitaro leaned over, and gently kissed her on the lips. Kitsune raised her hand to cup his check, and returned his kisses. His arms encircled her waist, while her hands snuck around the back of his head.

Slowly, Kitsune pushed him back, to that she lay on top of him. While, keeping their mouths locked together, Kitsune planter her hands on Keitaro's chest, and began to rub his chest, as his hands started exploring her back.

The pulsing from his pants was becoming painful, for Keitaro as Kitsune rubbed her hands all over his chest, while he hugged her close. He could feel her nipples harden as they pressed into his chest. She let out a soft moan, as she tilted her head back to face the roof of the room.

She then leaned back, and reached down, grabbed the bottom of Keitaro's shirt and pulled it off, over his head. Then, she grabbed the bottom of her own shirt, and pulled it off. She then reached around her back, and unclipped her bra, pealing it off, revealing her curvaceous breasts to him. Keitaro just stared back at her, looking up in stunned silence at her naked, upper torso. She then reached down, encircling her arms around his back, and lifting his back off the futon, hugging him to her chest.

Kitsune hugged Keitaro's head to her face, taking in the scent of his hair, and she moaned, ever so slightly.

"Kitsune," Keitaro whispered as he hugged her.

Suddenly, there was a click, and Keitaro's head shot up, looking over at the door. It slid open, and a darkened figure stood in the doorway.

"Arrggh!" He cried out, stumbling backwards. "Naru! It's not what you think!?!"

"Naru!?!" Kitsune said, turning around. "Here!?"

It wasn't. It was some woman Keitaro had never seen before. She had short black hair, and wore a cloak with a hood back.

"Hey, you're not Naru, who the hell are you!?!" Keitaro said, putting on his glasses, so he could get a better look at her.

"Oh, shit!" Kitsune said, rasing a hand to her mouth. "What are you doing here!?!" She then looked down at herself, and crossed her arms over her chest with embracement.

"You know this woman?" Keitaro asked.

"She should," the stranger replied. "She and I had a deal going! But she broke it off!"

"Now is not the time for this," Kitsune said pulling her bra and shirt back on. "I told you before, Deal's off!"

"What deal!?" Keitaro asked. "And dose it involve me?"

"Of cause it did," the stranger replied before Kitsune could.

"WHAT!?!" Keitaro shrieked.

"Keitaro," Kitsune whispered through a forced smile, "Not so loud, people will hear you."

"At this point in time, I don't really care," Keitaro cried out. "What deal did you make, Kitsune?"

"Oh," the stranger interrupted, "You mean she didn't bother to inform you?" Keitaro just shook his head. "It seems that your friend, was looking for a way to be set for life."

"Keitaro," Kitsune quickly interrupted, "Believe me, it's not what it looks like!"

"So, she approached my partner and I about the possibility of spending a night with the only male virgin left in Japan."

Keitaro just glared at Kitsune who was looking extremely embarrassed. "I'd like to scream and shout at you, Kitsune," he seethed, "Except I'm paralysed with rage!"

"But I called it off," Kitsune quickly added. "So why are you here!?!"

"No one backs out on a deal, especially from people like us." The lady answered.

"People like you?" Keitaro was puzzled. "Who are you? The military?"

"Nope," the stranger replied with the shake of her head. "Try the Yakoza."

"You," Keitaro said, turning to face Kitsune. "Tried to whore me out… To the mob!?!"

Kitsune tried to answer, but only managed a nervous chuckle. "What can I say," she eventually replied. "Old habits die hard?"

"But now, since you've tried to break a deal with us," she then reached into her cloak, and pulled out a revolver. "We're going to alter it." She pulled back the hammer, and pointed it directly at Keitaro. "We get him for keeps!"

"Kitsune," Keitaro said through his teeth. "If I ever get out of this, somehow, I'm going to kill you!"

"I seriously doubt it," the stranger said, walking into the room, and jabbed the gun at his belly. "Now, move it!"

It was then, that the only window in the room, shattered inwards, spraying the whole room with glass. Everyone ducked and hit the floor hard, as shards of glass came at them.

When it was over, they all looked up, to see a woman standing by the broken window, a large sword in hand. Keitaro blinked in surprise.

"Liu?" He said. "W-What are you doing here!?!"

"You!" She hissed, pointing the pointy end of the sword towards Kitsune, who swallowed nervously. "You must die!"

"Wait!" Keitaro cried out, but before anyone could answer, the Yakoza girl raised the gun, and took aim at Liu.

The shot rang out, and Liu moved. She rolled, just avoiding the bullet, but it still passed through her clothes, slamming into the broken window frame behind her. Liu poked a finger through the newly smoking hole in her shirt, and glared at the woman.

"You want a death wish, too?" She slashed the sword at her. "Bring it on!"

The Yakoza woman shrugged, and then fired again. Liu moved like lighting, bringing her sword up. There was a flash, and a loud clanging sound. She had blocked the bullet with her sword.

"Wow." Keitaro muttered.

"Shit," the Yakoza woman snarled, then pulled back the hammer, and fired three more times. Liu blocked all of them, but as she blocked the second shot, she drew back her free arm, and as she blacked the third, she flung it forward.

Something shiny spun through the air, and the Yakoza woman grunted as the gun was knocked from her hand. It flew across the room, where it hit the wall, a small blade stuck in the barrel.

Liu leapt through the air, knocking the gangster to the ground. She pined her to the floor, and held the sword at her throat. "Any more trick?" She hissed.

"Yeah," she said with a smile, and pursing her lips together, whistled loudly. There was the sound of a lever working, and Liu looked up at the door. Another woman stood there, holding a Winchester rifle. "I had some back up."

The gun fired. Liu was compleatly caught of gaurd, and didn't react in time to block the shot. She felt a shearing pain in her arm, and was sent reeling back, clutching her shoulder, a thick trail of crimson leaking through her fingers. The new stranger worked the lever. A brass cartridge case leapt into the air, then fell to the ground with a small clink. She aimed the rifle for another shot.

"Wait!" Ketiaro cried out, drawing their attention. "I give up! Please, I surrender, just don't hurt her!"

"Keitaro…" Liu moaned weakly.

The two mobsters looked at each other, then back to Keitaro. "Come on then," the newcomer replied. Keitaro got to his feet and the one without the gun grabbed him buy the arm, and lead him out the door. The one with the rifle, backed out, keeping both Liu and Kitsune in her sights, before fleeing as well.

There was a moment's silence, before Liu spoke. "Keitaro…! You still… care for me…?"

Keitaro was hustled down a different corridor, as they ran through the halls. "Where are we going?" He asked. "The exit's not this way!"

"But the fire escape is," the woman with the rifle replied. "Do you honestly think that little shoot out is going to go un-noticed?"

"Point taken," Keitaro replied, as he looked down at his own hands, which were being bound with rope by the other girl. "So where are we going?"

"We'll tell you when the time is right," the woman bounding his hands replied, as she pushed open a door, that lead to an outside stairway. "Right now, we've got to get you to our safe house."

The rifle girl checked the ally way, and then they all ran down the escape and down the ally.

-----------------

Curios guests were all standing in their doorways, when the soldiers stormed passed, making many close their doors.

"Is this the room where the shots came from?" The sergeant asked.

"Yes ma'am," the innkeeper replied. The door to the room hung wide open, and the trio of soldiers burst in, weapons raised.

The room was completely empty. They lowered their weapons, and scanned the room. There were signs of a fight of some kind. The window was smashed. There were a few bullet holes in the walls, and a trail of blood that lead to the window. The sergeant walked over to the window, and looked out.

Nothing. No signs of any escape, or blood.

The other two soldiers explored the bathroom, but found nothing out of the ordinary. "This place is secured, ma'am," a private answered. "What ever happened here, I think we missed it."

Whoever lived here, was long gone. No personal items were left, and only the things that came with the room were still around.

"I want to see the ledgers," the sergeant replied, stalking out of the room, "I want to know, who was in this room."

-----------------

Kitsune watched from the covered wagon, as the jeep of soldiers took of down the road. She then went back inside, to where Liu sat, her shirt and bar off, and with bandages around her shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" Kitsune asked.

"Like I've been shot, assface!" She said through her teeth. "How the hell do you think I feel?" She sucked in a deep breath as her movement cause pain to shoot through her arm. "So, what are we going to do?"

"About what?"

"Keitaro, you moron!!" She spat at Kitsune. She then whipped out her sword with her free hand and pressed the edge of the blade against her neck. "I should slit your thorat and leave you to die, for all the pain you've caused me, fox-woman!" Liu snarled. But she lowered the blade away. "However, I need you at this particular point in time. Alive!"

"Why?" Kitsune asked.

Liu snarled at her. "It's your fault he's in this mess, and you're going to help me rescue him!"

"Why me!" Kitsune said, placing her hands on her hips. "You're the one with the ninja skills!"

"Look at me," Liu breathed, clutching her shoulder lightly. "Do I look like I'm in any condition to leap from rooftop to rooftop?"

"And I have absolutely no fighting skills what-so-ever," Kitsune replied. "And besides, I don't think he's going to ever want to speak to me again, if we do rescue him."

"What on earth where you planing on doing, anyway?" Liu asked.

"Well," Kitsune shrugged nervously, and leaned over to whisper in Liu's ear.

"You WHAT!?!" She shrieked, and then winced as arm started to hurt.

"Not so loud," Kitsune whispered.

"Just out of shear morbid curiosity, how did you expect him to be your friend after you whored him out!?!"

"I was going to talk him into it willingly," Kitsune answered. "You know, try and convince him that it was the only way to get by."

"You scheming, two-timing…!" Liu started to say. But stopped, and shook her head. "Oh, Keitaro! I shouldn't have abandoned you."

"So what are we going to do?" Kitsune asked.

"Do you know where they have their base of operations?" Kitsune nodded.

"They run a warehouse over on the other side of the city."

"It's not much, but it's a start," Liu replied, shifting carefully. "Come on, let's get this thing moving to another location, before the soldiers decide to come back and thoroughly search the area." As Kitsue moved to help her, She raised the blad once more. "If you fuck this up, Fox-woman, or you cause me more pain, I'll finish the job i originally came here to do!"

Kitsune nodded.

-----------------

"Blood, but no bodies?" The Lt. Asked. The sergeant nodded.

"There were eyewitness reports of a number of people fleeing the Inn, but no one knows how many were involved."

The Lt. Wasn't really interested in the case. She had other important things to worry about. "Who was staying in that room?"

The sergeant pulled out a piece of scrap paper with two names on it. "Mistune Konno, and Naru Narusegawa."

"Fine, fine," she said with little interest, as she waved a free hand I the air. "Send out what's left of the police in this city and let them handle it."

"Yes, Ma'am," the sergeant said.

Suddenly, the Lt. Eyes flung wide open, and she spun around. "Halt!" She cried out. "What was that last name!?!"

"Ma'am?"

"That last name you read out! What was it!?!" The sergeant looked at the scrap of paper.

"Naru Narusegawa?"

The Lt. froze, and then ran back to her table, pushing asides folders, finally grabbing the one she was after. She opened it, and read through the papers inside.

"Naru Narusegawa." She repeated. There it was, the name of Keitaro's girlfriend. The missing one. She smiled.

**JUST OUTSIDE THE CITY: A Few Minutes Later…**

"Yes, Major," the voice crackled over the radio. "We've found the Narusegawa girl. She's here in this city. Over."

"Excellent, Lt." Major Kiska replied. "It's most likely Keitaro, using her name as a disguise. I'll send you some reinforcements, and I'll be along with them. In the meantime, I want you to tighten your grip on the city. Screen everything going out of that city. Search everything that can be searched. We can't afford to let him escape us again! Over."

"Understood, Major," the Lt. replied. "Over and out." Then, the radio was silent.

"Well," the woman said, as she lowered the radio, and put it back in her knapsack. "It seems that Haruka did the right thing in calling me to go look after him."

She then lifted her knapsack up onto her shoulders, and mounted her motorbike. She reeved it loudly, and pulled the goggles back down over her eyes.

"Don't worry, Brother. Kanako shall not let you fall into their hands!"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	6. Lies, Spies & Mafia Guys Err, Girls Pt2

**Author's Note:** _Freak'n finally, an Update! Gosh where as all the time gone? I looked behind the couch, but it sure as hell wasn't there. Though, seriously guys, I've been going through a lot of personal issues lately. On that topic,I just want to say on thing. **"Fuck you Liquid Animation! Fuck you in the arse with a big rubber dick!" **A-hem, now thatI have that out of my system, I can tell you know thatI have my personal life all in order... for now; butI can't promise anything. Appologies to all those who sent me E-mails and i never returned them, butI was SEIROUSLY depressed back then.Also, while I'mon that topic,__Minh Toshihiro__if you are reading this,I want to thank you again for forgiving me for my childish behaviour. Really, thanks dude, that meant a lot to me. _

_But enough of my soap opra. ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!!_

**"You've been looking for days now,"**

**"Oh, but I'm not around!"**

**"I've been finding new ways how,"**

**"To see that I'm never found!"**

_**Theory of a Dead Man- "Invisible Man,"** _

The sound of a horse trotting along, as it pulled a wooden cart slowly began to fill the air. As it made its way through the forest, the noises seemed to echo all around, causing some of the native wildlife to look up in surprise.

At the helm, a lone woman wearing a long cloak and broad hat sat, hardly moving at all, as the horse travelled along.

She travelled along all alone, except for the horse that pulled her cart. Along the side of the road, an overturned automobile lay burnt black, with a skeleton behind the wheel.

She did not bat an eyelid as she past it, leaving it behind. The asvolt beneath her had at one time carried hundreds of cars, now; it was virtually empty, and eerily quite.

As she came to a top of a small hill, she spotted a bridge up ahead. There was a rather large gauge in the side railing of the bride, and a number of black scorch marks here and there.

She never heard the first explosion. There was a sudden _bang_, followed by the horse's screams, as it reared up, as the lose stones and gravel, fountained up into the air in front of their path. A second explosion erupted behind them, this one closer to the cart, so that woman received a stone shower, as the debris fell back to the earth below.

There was a loud, sharp whooping cry, as figures jumped up from all around her. Most of them leapt from hiding places within the tall grass on the road side, but three of them appeared from nearby trees, hovering just above him, pulling back their bows, and training their arrows at her head. In front of her, were three figures, covered from head to toe in what looked like paramilitary gear. These had bolt-action rifles, and were keeping the horse from going forward. The ones behind her were carrying large knives.

The woman just smiled from under her straw hat.

"Well, well, well," one of the figures in front of her said, "Lookie what we've got here!"

"I mean you no harm," the woman in the cart said in a calm tone.

"Too bad the same doesn't apply for us," the lead woman said, shouldering her weapon, as she casually walked towards the cart.

"I only wish to cross that bridge," the woman in the cart replied in the same calm tone of voice. "I don't wish to have any business with you!"

"Well, you'll have to," the leader of the gang said, lowering her rifle and pointing it right at the woman in the cart. "You see, this here is our land. With 99 of all the worlds landowners dead, everything's up for grabs these days." She then paused to lick her lips, as she glanced past the woman to eye the contence of her cart. "And if you want passage through our lands, you've got to pay a toll."

"A toll?" She said slowly. "How much?"

"Everything you've got, bitch!" The leader snapped, and pointed the gun at her head. "Now, get out of that cart." All the other women aimed their weapons at her. "Ether you get out voluntarily, or we force you out." She then shouldered her weapon again, as she cocked her head. "Now what'll it be?"

The woman smiled again. She then stood up, her eyes hidden by her straw hat. "Heh," she chuckled. "Taking your weapon off from me was your first mistake!"

"Huh?"

The woman in the cart gave a small shaking motion on her right arm. Something shiny suddenly slid out from her Kimono, and into her hand. It took the leader a split second to realise it was a samurai sword.

Before she could shout an order to kill her, the woman in the cart leapt into the air.

Bullets, arrows, and darts flew through the air, as she somersaulted into the air. As she reached her maximum hight, she raised the sword high above her head.

"Secret Technique: Air Splitting Sword!" She cried out, as she brought her sword down. The women in front of the cart with the guns were suddenly blown head over heals by a wave of pure energy. They landed in the grass quite some distance away.

The woman in the straw hat landed neatly just in front of the cart. She wasn't still for long. She rolled over, swinging her blade in an arching motion towards the tree branches.

"Boulder cutting blade!" She cried out. The tops of the trees disintegrated as the robbers in the trees went sailing into the distance, behind the hill.

The other women behind the cart were busy re-loading their blowpipes, as the straw-hat woman walked around the side of the cart, and looked at them.

She gave them a half smile, and they dropped their weapons and scattered in different directions.

"Humph, pathetic." She then tossed her sword into the back of the cart, then climbing back into the drivers seat, cracked the reigns, and started off towards the bridge once more.

NODA CITY:

"In here," one of the Yakoza women said, as she opened a large steel door. The other woman, shoved Keitaro through, and closed the door behind him.

There was a light in the room, but not enough. But enough to point out that there were two other people in the room with him. They both sat at a table, playing cards. They looked up at him as he entered.

"Well," a males voice said. "Looks like we've got company."

"That means some one intelligent to talk to," the other male replied. His friend threatened to hit him. "Well," the man replied leaning back in his chair. "Welcome friend, take a sea…" The mans voice trailed off, as he leaned forward a bit.

Keitaro couldn't make out their features, because they were out of the light, but they could defiantly make out his, as they seemed to look at him in a strange way.

"Oh my God," the other said. "Keitaro!?! Is that you!?!"

"Huh?" Keitaro said in shock. "How do you know who I am?"

"Sweet Jesus, it IS you!" The two men jumped up and stepped into the light. The tallest of the two was a bit thin, with long hair, tied up into a ponytail. The other was not as thin, but also had his hair tied up into a pony tail.

"Ummm," Keitaro scratched the back of his head. "Do I know you guys?"

Both their mouths fell open in utter disbelief. Then, both turning red with anger, pointed at themselves.

"Don't you recognise your two best friends, you twip!?! It's me, Haitani"

"And Shirai!" Keitaro blinked in surprise. Then nodded.

"It figures you two perverts would survive." He said. "Say, didn't you two have glasses?"

Both of them pointed at their eyes. "Contact lenes," Shirai said with a wink. "The girls don't dig glasses, too nerdy for them."

Haitani suddenly appeared from behind Keitaro and leaning over his shoulder, held a small wooden box up to his face. "You oughta try some. You'll get more girls that way!"

"Girls!?!" Keitaro looked puzzled. "Oh, you mean you two…" They both gave gigantic grins and nodded once. "Well, glasses or no glasses, I somehow think that's not going to make a difference these days."

"So Keitaro," Shirai said, "You survived the plague?" He leaned closer to whisper. "Did you do it with any of the Hinata girls after it was gone?"

Kitsune.

She'd tried to whore him out because of the fact he was still a virgin, and possibly the only male virgin left in Japan. He'd come very close to have sex with her. Still, he couldn't help but think, if those Yakoza girls hadn't come for him when they did, he probably would've gone the whole nine yards with her.

"That's none of your business," Keitaro snapped. "Besides, I spent nearly a month in a coma, and by the time I woke up, everybody was gone."

"Oh yeah," Shirai said with a shrug. "I'd forgotten about that."

"What?" Keitaro cried out. "How could you guys forget about something like a coma happening to your best friend?"

"Don't really know," Haitani answered, "Then again, how come every time we've popped up you keep forgetting our names?"

"Touché," Keitaro replied. There was a moment of silence, before Keitaro asked, "So now what do we do?"

"We wait until the girls call upon us," Haitani said, and the both of them, rubbed their hands with glee. They then both fell on their knees in pray. "We'd like to take this opportunity to thank God for putting us in the situation he has."

"What!?!" Keitaro cried out. "How can you guys be thankful for what happened!?! Life's been nothing but hell for me!"

"That's probably because you haven't adapted to the situation, Keitaro," Haitani said, "Are you still trying to stay loyal to Naru?"

Keitaro didn't answer that question. His nervous look and the way he twiddled his fingers was all his friends needed. "Exactly," Shirai said, "You've been so wound up about staying loyal to Naru, that you've seen this great opportunity as a curse!"

"You need to lighten up, man," Haitani said, suddenly popping up from behind Keitaro. "Where is Naru at this point in time?"

"I, I don't know," Keitaro replied. The two friends gave him a death stare.

"If you don't know where she is," Shirai said through his teeth,

"Then how is she going to know weather or not you had sex with another woman for crying out loud!?!" Haitani exploded. He reached over and grabbed Keitaro's head, shoving his roughly. "Man, are you brain dead, or gay!?!"

"Leave me alone, guys!" Keitaro protested, pushing Haitani away. "Maybe you guys never experienced love, true love I mean, but I have! Naru means a lot to me, and after everything we've been through, I'm not going to give her up simply because man kind is an endangered species."

Haitani and Shirai seemed unmoved by his speech. Shirai then leaned over and whispered a question into his ear. Haitani nodded.

"Yep, he's gone gay."

"Oh, for the love of…"

AT THAT VERY MOMENT…

There was only one transport out on the streets that night. Kitsune had suggested that they wait until morning, but Liu wouldn't here of it. She kept insisting that the Yakoza girls might have moved Keitaro to another location, or out of the city by then.

Surprisingly, there were no soldiers out on the streets. Kitsune couldn't help but wounder where they all were. During the day, the streets were crawling with them, now they were nowhere to be seen.

"It's too quite for my like'n," Kitsune said, looking from left to right. "Where the hell is everybody?"

"Probably investigating our little gun fight," Liu replied from the back of the carriage. "How much longer until where at this warehouse?"

"Not long, about ten minutes away," Kitsune said, looking in the direction they were travelling. "But just asking, what exactly are we going to do once we get there? I'm no commando, and you're arm isn't going to help."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, Kitsune," Liu answered. "Say, you've been there, right?" Kitsune nodded once. "What kind of security do they have? How many guards are there?"

Kitsune thought for a moment. "It's only the two of them," she replied. "They just happen to have lots of illegal and very powerful guns."

"Just the two of them, hey?" Liu half smiled, and winced at her arm. "Damn it, if only I was in top condition. I could rescue my beloved Keitaro!" Her face turned serious. "Don't fret my love, Liu will come for you!"

Kitsune just rolled her eyes. "And Keitaro thinks I'M the one with problems," she said under her breath.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Finally, Kitsune pulled over, and into an ally way, to hide the cart. Liu climbed up to the front, and they both walked to the mouth of the ally.

"That it?" Liu asked without looking at her. Kitsune nodded. "What if they're not in? What if they've taken Keitaro elsewhere?"

"It's our only lead," Kitsune replied. "Someone has to scout it out, find some evidence." Liu nodded, then looked over at Kitsune with sly grin. Kitsune looked at her. "Huh? Why not… Oh, forget it." Shrugging in defeat, Kitsune hunched over, and quickly darted for the shadows of the warehouse.

She reached the wall, and pressed flat against it. Listening to the sounds, and hearing nothing that might have told her that her presence was known, she inched her way along the wall, until she came to a grimy window.

She wiped away the grime, and peered in. Boxes stacked as high as the ceiling blocked out much of the view. Her eyes moved this way and that, looking for anything. Nothing.

She cursed silently, and moved along to another window. The only thing she saw was a huge forklift blocking her view. She then moved along, and found a fire escape. She quickly climbed the ladder, and reached a door. Carefully, she listened against it.

Nothing.

She tried the door, and found it locked. She quickly pulled out one of her many hair pins, which she'd used to pick the locks on Haruka's private fridge, and easily opened the door.

It was dark inside, and hard to see. Outside, she'd had the help of the moonlight, inside, the windows where still covered in grime, and hardly any light shone through. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realised she was in a small hallway. She inched her way along, and came around a corner, and into the warehouse. It was easier to see now.

Across the far side of the room, lay a small office cubical, with a light shining through its window. Bingo.

She smiled, as she crept along the catwalk, and down a set of stairs. She then crouched down as she hurried along, making sure to have a hiding spot close by in case someone opened the door.

Finally, Kitsune reached the office, and crawling over to the window, sat directly below it. Voices were coming from inside the office, and she instantly recognised them as those of the Yakoza girls. They were here, and if they were, so was Keitaro.

"Well, that makes three boys we now have. Business is defiantly booming," one girl said.

"Let's keep it that way, okay," the other replied. "The more males we have, the greater our chances are of being caught. We must remember not to go overboard here. One slip up and we could both we wearing Grey lingerie."

"So, who are you going to line up for our once in a lifetime offer of a virgin Male?"

"There are a lot of government officials who have access to our nations limited recourses in Tokyo," the woman answered. "I've got two in my sights, who whom I know, would pay enough food to last the rest of our lives for Keitaro."

"Set up for life," the other woman said, and there was the sound of someone leaning back in a rocking chair. "I like the sound of that."

Kitsune slowly crept away from the window. Keitaro was here, but not with them. She'd have to find while she knew the Yakoza girls were distracted.

Carefully, she looked around, trying to spot any doors, or something, that might lead to where Keitaro was. She crawled around the warehouse for quite some time. Five minutes ticked by, then ten, fifteen.

Where on earth was Keitaro?

Finally, after twenty minutes of searching, she'd discovered no other doors that lead into any hidden rooms. All doors lead outside, and the only other rooms where the toilet facilities, and the office where the Yakoza girls were.

Frustrated, she turned about and headed back for the exit.

The two guards looked up from their posts, as a lone motorcycle rolled up. The riders face was obscured by the glare of the headlight on the front.

"Stop," the lead guard said, "And turn of your lights!" The rider complied, to reveal herself as a young sergeant. She saluted them, and they her.

"At ease, troops," she said, "What's the latest word? Has the target been found?"

"No ma'am," the lead guard replied, "We've covered all exits, and are…"

"I know, I know," the sergeant said, "You're following new orders, not letting anyone in, or out, what I want to know, is has anyone found anything yet?"

"Not yet, Ma'am," the lead guard answered. "We're waiting for the rest of our promised reinforcements to arrive."

"Very well," the sergeant replied, as she put her head light back on, "I'm going back to headquarters to give my report, Report in any suspicious activities."

"Understood, ma'am," they all saluted each other, before the sergeant drove off. Suddenly, the lead guard narrowed her eyes. "HEY!" she shouted out.

The sergeant stopped her bike, and looked back. "What?" She called out.

The lead guard pointed in the opposite direction she was travelling in. "Headquarters is that way."

The sergeant looked embarrassed. "Oh, I knew that." She said, before turning the bike around, and speeding off.

"What do you mean, he's not in there?" Liu asked.

"That's just it," Kitsune replied, "There's no other rooms in that place, where he could be hidden."

"Damn," Liu snarled. "This is going to be a lot tougher than I first thought." She then hit her fist into her open palm, and winced at the pain from her arm. "Looks like we've got no other choice, but to launch a preventative strike. Then, force them to tell us where they've hidden Keitaro."

"Hello," Kitsune said, "They've got guns? What have WE got? One sword, and a cattle prod!" She reached behind her back and pulled out a thick black stick. She shook it and the end extended outwards. She thumbed a button and it crackled with electricity.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Liu asked.

"Oh, I've had this since before the plague," Kitsune replied with a shrug. "Anyway, back to the topic at hand, how long do you think we're going to last in a full frontal assault, especially with your busted arm?"

"Okay, okay," Liu waved the suggestion away, "Point taken, but what else can we do?"

Kitsune thought for a moment. "What's wrong with a good old fashioned stake out?" She said with a shrug. "And it they're going to move Keitaro anywhere, they've got to go to him, so if we follow them around, when they finally reveal Keitaro… BAM! We jump them!" She tried to hit the palm of her hand with her fist, but forgot she was still holding the cattle prod, so she instead punched the end of it, giving herself a shock. "Ouch." She muttered, shaking her hand.

Liu just shook her head with disgust.

* * *

"I'll see your hand, and raise you twenty," Haitani said as he shuffled his cards. Shirai just nodded without looking at him, and fingered his pile of matches. 

"I'll see that twenty," he said, "And raise you twenty five." He added his twenty-five matches to the ever-growing pile. "Keitaro?"

Keitaro looked over his cards, and sighed, as a large sweat drop rolled down his face. "I fold."

"You know," Haitani said, as he raised the stakes to thirty matches, "You're full of shit, Keitaro."

"Huh?" Keitaro raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"About not having sex yet."

"Oh, dear God," Keitaro mumbled as he let his headrest in his hand. "Must you guys keep going on about that subject?"

"Of cause, buddy," Shirai said, taking the opportunity to sneak a look at Haitani's cards while his attention was distracted. "You've at least got to have had sex once. I mean, you've ether got to be brain dead, or gay!"

"Well, could it possibly be that I'm neither, and maybe just a decent guy, trying to stay loyal to the one girl he's ever loved!?!"

"Gezze," Haitani said, as he quickly hid his cards from Shirai's view, "How long are you going to keep milking that excuses."

"Maybe you guys never had a girlfriends, but…"

"Girlfriends and marriage ain't gonna be acceptable for a long, long time, Keitaro," Shirai quickly butted in. "The very existence of the human race is now at stake. Already, it's been what, nearly a year since the plague ended…"

"Dude, it's only been two months," Haitani quickly added.

"Whatever," Shirai said with a shrug. "The point is, in the less developed countries where they don't have proper recourses, and most of the population lives below the poverty line, there's major trouble. Most of those countries have fallen apart, there's no law, no order, and it's almost like the days of the dark ages. No power, no electricity, and hardly any food. It's only in the first world countries have there been any sort of stability."

"And…?" Keitaro asked.

"The third world countries are nothing but wastelands now, lawless territory, where anything goes. All the first world countries are going to be having a hard time within their own borders, so by the time things get pretty much stabilised, all those third world countries are going to be barren. No people, nothing. Just empty ghost towns."

"That's scary," Keitaro said, his head jerking back a bit.

"The population of Japan has always been large, but this plague has seriously altered that. If we don't repopulate, the country will get smaller and smaller, and there won't be enough doctors, police, engineers, farmers, and so on, and so on. All it takes, is just sector of society to disappear, and the rest will collapse like a house of cards," he leaned back, "Just like the third world."

Keitaro was stunned.

"I… I never looked at things like that before." He said.

"Let's face it, Keitaro," Haitani said. "Women are in charge now. We men are nothing but rear objects to them, now. We probably will never get full and equal rights for quite some time. Probably even after we're all dead of old age, things will still be the same."

"But… that must be something we can do. There's always hope!"

"There's nothing we can do, buddy," Shirai said softly. "But I'll tell you what you can do. You can ether spend the rest of your life moping about it, or find some way to enjoy the best of a worst situation."

"It's better that way, Keitaro," Haitani added. "I mean, what if you went looking for Naru, and discovered she was dead? How would that make you feel? Do you really want to go running all the way across the country for nothing?"

Keitaro was silent.

"I think you over did it, man," Shirai whispered into Haitani's ear, while sneaking another look at his cards.

"I need some time to myself, guys," Keitaro said, standing up. He left Haitani beating up Shirai after catching him looking at his cards.

Keitaro walked over, and sat down in a rocking chair, and sighed. Naru. Was she really dead? Or was she still alive. Was Haitani right, in that he shouldn't go treak'n all over country on a wild goose chase?

Naru.

Damn it! Why was life so unfair to him? Why did he always have to suffer? Both emotional and physical pain, he's experienced them all during his stay at the Hinata house. Life was gradually beginning to fall into place… On top of him.

In the darkness of the corner, Keitaro took of his glasses, and began to cry.

* * *

The moon was out full and bright that night, bathing the city in an eerie white glow. Had anyone bothered to look up at the top of the sky line, they would've seen a lone woman, holding what looked like a small satellite dish, and pointing it towards the heavens. 

She occasionally turned it this way, and that, while she talked into the rather large satellite phone.

"Ahh, there, can you here me now?" There was a reply from the other line. "Yeah, well most of the satellites are down, and so I'm having to rely on this portable dish in order to communicate." There was a pause. "Oh yeah, the reason I'm calling is that we can't meet up in Noda City. There's been an alarming amount of troops showing up as of recent. My superiors back in Can… Err, HQ, suspect that the Japanese government may be on to us!"

She grunted, and swung the dish in another direction. "Come again?" She pressed the phone closer to her ear. "We'll have to meet some distance away from the city, or in another city all together." She trailed off as the voice on the other line interrupted her. "What!?! Why?" The woman stretched out her arm at bit more towards the heavens. "What do you mean, personal reasons!?! Are you insane!?! I told you before, there's a HUGE army presence in Noda. The chances of beings discovered…" The voice interrupted her again. "At least let us meet outside the city limits? And away from the main roads?"

She swore as she stood up, nearly slipping on the roof tiles, as she aimed the dish on a few more angles. "Can you repeat that?" She listened again. "You're nuts! You're flying in by plane. Into a heavily military presence. What's to worry about!?! Moron! Due to oil shortages in this country the only aircraft in the skies over Japan are military. You don't think that somebody's not going to notice a private plane?"

The woman slapped her forehead with the phone in frustration, as she angled the dish once more. "I missed all that, because our transmition keeps breaking up! What in God's name is wrong with your flying abilities? Can't you fly straight!?!" The voice spoke more clearly this time. "You're looking for who?" The woman asked back in surprise. There was a long pause, as she listened. She slowly sat down.

"Alright, who or what, is Keitaro Urashima?"

* * *

The Yakoza woman looked up from her sake bottle, as the door opened and her partner entered the room. 

"Well?" She asked.

"The message was sent, and received," the other woman replied. "Our client has agreed to pay any price we want."

"Excellent," the one at the table stood up, "I knew this deal would make us rich! So, what's the arrangements?"

"Well, she's agreed to give us a government pass to get us out of the city. We then make our own way to Tokyo, where she'll meet us to arrange negotiations for our price."

"Hmmmm," the other woman rubbed her chin. "Seems too much like a trap to me. In that case, I say we hide Keitaro once we get there, until we're sure she's not going to pull a fast one on us!"

"You really don't think she'd try to piss US off, do you?"

"Yakoza or not, I wouldn't put it past anyone in this day and age."

"Okay, now what about the other two boys?" Her partner then asked. "Two women travelling with THREE men isn't going to be easy."

"That's because we won't be," the other woman replied. "One of us will be going to Tokyo with Keitaro, while the other stays behind."

"Are you sure it's wise to go to Tokyo without any backup?" Her friend asked.

"At the moment we've got no other choice. There are more soldiers arriving her every day. We could possibly sneak out of the city with one man, but three is pushing it."

"All this fuss over one kid," the other woman muttered. "What the hell is so important about him anyway?"

"Who cares," the other woman said. "He's a hot item. The sooner we get rid of him, the better." She shrugged. "I too would like to know what's so special about him, but like the west always said, 'curiosity killed the cat.' So I think it be best if we don't find out military secrets."

"So now we've got that worked out, how long should I wait, before leaving here myself?"

"Let's wait at least a day, before moving the others out," her friend said. "The longer we wait the more dispirit the army is likely to become. So far, they haven't been smart enough to search or block the sewers, but that may change any day now. We'll have to move fast, or we'll trapped here."

* * *

The two guards guarding the entrance of the town jumped up to attention as the horse and cart drew near. 

"Halt!" One guard called out, pointing her weapon at the lone driver on the cart. The driver pulled on the reigns and the horse stopped. "This area is quarantined," the guard said. "No civilians allowed in or out! You'll have to go around!"

"Is that so," the driver said from beneath her large wide brimmed straw hat. "I thought the plague didn't effect women."

"It's not the plague," the other guard said aiming her weapon. "There's been a chemical spill. We currently have a hazard team cleaning up. We have our orders. No one is allowed in or out!"

The woman driver smiled. "Now, isn't that funny," she replied. "I have not seen one doctor or medic, or clean up crew on my way here. And since this is the only major road into this city, isn't it likely I'd see them on my journey? Are you sure you're telling me everything?"

"That's because they came from the northern highway," the guard said back. "Any more questions?"

"Yes," the driver answered. "I heard on the news radio stations, that the Northern Highway was blocked because of land slides, and that it would take at least two weeks to unblock. Plus, the news about this place stated that help was coming from Tokyo, and that would mean they'd have to use this road."

The guard could only stammer, caught in her own contradiction. Instead, she took aim with her gun. "You're too smart for your own good girl," she snarled. "Dismount and please follow me!"

"Okay!" She raised her hands, and jumped down form the cart. "Please, look after my horse, she's been very helpful to me."

"Fine," the other guard said, walking over to the horse, and moving it off the road. She turned to her partner, and watched as she lead the stranger away into the town by herself. She hated leaving her partner, but the military garrison in the town was short as it was. It wasn't like there were many women in the army to begin with, and with every available soldier out scowering the town for the rouge male, they couldn't radio for back up so she had to do this her self.

The soldier led the stranger down the streets towards the army's HQ. "Tell me," the stranger asked. "Where are you taking me?"

"To my superiors," she replied. "They'll know what to do with people who seem to know more than they should!" She poked the stranger in the back with the muzzle of her gun. "The way you talked, it was obvious that you didn't believe us. Most people don't bother with travelling these days, and a single woman like you wouldn't last very long out there…"

That was about as far as she got, before the stranger suddenly spun around, with lighting speed, grabbing the muzzle of the gun; she pushed hard forcing the butt of the gun backwards and up, smashing into the face of the soldier with a dull crack.

She didn't make a sound as she crumpled to the ground, out cold. She bowed at the guard, before saying, "Thankyou for getting me inside the city. I no longer require your services anymore." She then dragged the soldier into an ally way, and hid her behind a garbage bin, before picking up her weapon, and releasing the magazine clip, she tossed it away, before dropping the gun beside the soldier.

She pulled back her sleave and looked at her watch. She had about thirty minutes before her target would show up. She looked back down at the guard. She'd be out cold for at least two more hours. Her only concern was for her horse. She'd have to move fast in case the soldier guarding her horse got suspicious as to the length of time her partner was taking to get back.

"Then I shall have to move swiftly," she said to herself, and spinning around, moved into the shadows of the ally way and of into the night.

* * *

The sound of locks sliding against metal made the three friends look up from their card game. The door opened, and in came the yakoza girls. The lead one looked for Keitaro and pointed directly at him. 

"You three," she said, "We're leaving, but you're going first!"

"M-me?" Keitaro stammered. "Why me?"

"We'll explain later," she said, walking over to him and pulling out a set of police issued cuffs. "Right now, we need to get moving before dawn."

"Can I at least ask where we're going?" Keitaro asked, as he was turned around and cuffed.

"Later, kid, later." The woman replied, before spinning him around, and marching him for the door. "The sooner we move, the sooner we can explain everything."

"What about them?" Keitaro asked, looking over at Haitani and Shirai.

"We'll move them later, but right now, you're going first!" And before he could call out any good byes, he was out the door, and the other woman was closing it behind them.

They walked down the dark corridor towards the ladder that led up into the warehouse. The other woman climbed up the ladder, holding Keitaro's hands while he climbed up behind her.

He was pulled out of the hole that was hidden by a large, but completely empty, create, and into the warehouse. The woman behind Keitaro quickly climbed up after him, and closing the hatch, pushed the large create back over the trap door.

"Where are we going now?" Keitaro asked, the moment she'd finished pushing the create.

"We're going to take a sewer rout out of the city," she replied. "Luckily, the army haven't bothered patrolling or guarding that area because they don't have the troops. But we don't know how long before they will, so we move now!"

Up in the darkness of the catwalk, Liu and Kitsune watched the whole scene unfold. She then reached into her pocket with her good arm, and turned to Kitsune.

"How's your throwing arm?" She asked.

"My what?" Kitsune replied. "What do you have in mind?" Liu pulled out a small throwing blade and handed it to her.

"I need to you take out that woman with the gun," she said, pointing at the yakoza girl holding a pistol. "Unfortunately, my throwing arm is in bad shape," she looked at her arm in the crude sling Kitsune had made for her. "I don't know if the other one is armed, but it's better to take out the armed one first, and have just one to deal with."

"You want me to kill her!?!" Kitsune gasped in disbelief.

"And what's wrong with that?" Liu asked with chilling indifference. "In case you haven't noticed, it's a dog-eat-dog world out there. You're going to have to be ruthless in order to survive."

"But… but…!" Kitsune stammered, but Liu just glared at her.

"If you want to save Keitaro, then throw the damn blade you fucking twat!"

"Okay, okay!" Kitsune said holding up her hands in self-defence. Then, taking a deep breath, turned to face the girl with the gun. "Oh boy, here we go."

"It's okay, Kitsune," Liu said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll help you do this, just take a deep breath, and do exactly as I say." Kitsune did just that. "Now, close your eyes and feel the weight of the blade." Kitsune did just that. "Can you feel it?" Kitsune nodded. "Good, now open your eyes, and look at your target." Kitsune did just that. "Now, raise your arm back, and keep your eye on the target." Kitsune did just that. "Can you feel the blade?" Liu whispered into her ear.

"Yes," Kitsune replied silently.

"Can you feel your target?"

"Yes," Kitsune replied automatically.

"Can you feel the blade sailing through the air?"

"Yes," Kitsune replied, sounding more serious than she'd ever sounded before in her whole life.

"Now, throw it!" Liu hissed. Kitsune glared at her target, gritted her teeth, and bringing her arm forward hurled the knife with deadly force.

THUNK!!

"What the hell…!?!" The yakoza woman with the gun looked over at what looked like a small knife that had just imbedded it's self in a wooden create about twenty-feet away from her.

"YOU IDIOT!!!" The shout came from somewhere up among the catwalks that ran along the ceiling of the warehouse.

"We've got company!" The woman with the gun said, as she took aim and fired three shots into the darkness from the spot where the voice had come from.

The sparks the bullets made as they slammed into the surrounding structure light up the area enough to make out two figures standing up there.

"Hey," the woman with the gun said, "I thought I saw the fox-woman up there."

"And who told you to stop shooting?" The other woman snapped, grabbing Keitaro.

"Sorry," she replied, and continued shooting at the fleeing shadows.

Up in the catwalks, Kitsune and Liu ran crouched down, along the catwalk while bullets 'panged' all around them, showering them with sparks.

"If I somehow manage to survive this, I'm going to strangle you with my bear hands!" Liu snarled at Kitsune.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Kitsuen repeated over and over again as she ran. The bullet's stopped and Liu looked down to see the woman reloading her gun.

"Come on!" She shouted, standing up straight and bolting for cover. They barely made it to the door, when a shoot shattered the glass window on the door that read 'EXIT.' Liu yanked it open, and pulled Kitsune through.

"Oh, that's just great," the woman holding Keitaro snarled. "That's just bound to bring unwanted attention now!"

"We're in the middle of an abandoned district, declared off limits by the town council" the woman with the gun shot back. "Who the hell is going to here us!?!"

Suddenly, the doors to the front entrance of the warehouse were suddenly thrown open, and the two women found themselves in the glair of the spot light. Holding up a hand in front of her face, the woman guarding Keitaro realised it was the headlight of a motorcycle, as she recognised the hum of it's engine.

The rider dismounted from the bike, kicking out the stand, and walked slowly towards them, before stopping about forty-feet away. The other yakoza woman aimed her gun at the new comer, and shouted, "Who the hell are you!?!"

Keitaro squinted through the glair of the headlight at the silhouette of the figure standing there. He couldn't make out much, but he could identify a rather long strand of hair sticking up from her head. He narrowed his eyes.

"Nah," he said silently, "It couldn't be."

"I do believe that doesn't belong you yo two," the stranger said, pointing at Keitaro.

"Oh really?" The woman with the gun said, cocking the trigger. "And what are you going to do about it?" The woman made a fist, then, to every body's surprise, it began to glow.

"What the…!?!" the woman holding Keitaro managed to get out, before the stranger suddenly leapt into the air. The woman with the gun open fired on her, but the stranger just twisted through the air, and landed just behind her.

There was a low thwack, as lighting fast roundhouse kick sent her spinning through the air, to smash headlong into a wooden create. Her left leg twitched once, and lay still.

The woman holding Keitaro pushed him roughly to the ground and pulled out a small handgun. But she never got a chance to take aim as suddenly, the stranger shifted quickly and with her other leg, struck out knocking the gun from her hand, before following through with a well placed punch that sent her tumbling head over heals into the wall. She slammed face first into the wall, before slowly sliding down and landing on her head.

The stranger smiled at her handy work, and walked over to Keitaro. Keitaro had lost his glasses when he was shoved to the floor. He squinted at the stranger before him, and smiled.

"It's good to see you again, Kanako," he said. "Thanks for saving me."

"Anytime, my dear Oniichan," she replied, reaching down with her still glowing fist, and with a quick thrust of her palm, snapped the cuffs.

Keitaro then got up, shaking the remains of the cuffs off his wrists, while Kanako handed him his glasses. "How on earth did you find me?" He asked. "I mean, it's not like a left a trail of bread crumbs or anything."

"Aunt Haruka sent me to go look for you after she discovered a government agent was spying on her, looking for any signs of you." Kanako replied. After taking a radio from the military, it was only a matter of listening for talk about you, and following those leads." She looked back at her bike. "Once I got here, It was simply a matter of going through military records of where they'd searched and where they hadn't."

"But how did you…?" He paused and smiled. "Oh that's right, you're a master of disguise."

"It was shear luck that I was searching this sector and heard the gun shoots. I decided to investigate and here I am."

"Thanks again, Kanako," Keitaro replied, hugging her. "Who knows what…" He stopped, as he realised that Kanako was hugging him back a little TOO enthusiastically. His eyes widened, as his mind floated back to those wacky days before the plague hit. "Uhh, Kanako," he said, pushing her away gently, "Before you try to come onto me again, I want you to know, I'm going to go look for Naru, and Naru only!"

"But Oniichan," Kanako whined, "Why bother going to find that stupid girl?" She cuddled up much closer to him, "Especially since I'm here."

"All right you two!" Liu shouted, stepping in between them and pushes Kanako aside. "Break it up!"

Kanako glared at the new comer. "And who exactly are you?"

"I'm Liu, Liu Han!" She snapped, sticking her face within inches of Kanako's. "I'm Keitaro's true love! And who exactly might YOU be!?!"

"Now hold on a second there, Liu," Keitaro said, but she ignored him.

"What do you mean, he's YOUR true love!?!" Kanako snapped back at her. "I've known him practically all my life, and I'm his true love!"

"So, you're this Naru person?" Liu asked.

"No, but she can be," Kitsune said from the doorway. "That's Kanako Urashima, Keitaro's younger sister." Trying to ignore Keitaro's death stares aimed at her, she gave a small wave. "Hows things, Goth girl?"

Kanako just gave a small nod in Kitsune's direction. "His SISTER!?!" Liu cried out. "What kind of sick individual are you!?!"

"There's nothing sick about it, you freak!" Kanako hissed back. "I was adopted by the Urashima family. Therefore, I'm NOT related by blood to Keitaro, so technically, we're not brother and sister!"

"You've got one twisted sister here, Keitaro," Liu said.

"Who are you calling twisted, you psycho!?!" Kanako spat back, her hand glowing again.

"Now, cut it out, you two!" Keitaro said, stepping in between the two of them before anything could happen. The two girls growled at each other. "We have more important things to worry about, like the fact that we have to get out of this place, and I mean right now!" Suddenly he paused. "Oh wait, I forgot about…"

Just then, multiple bright lights flooded the warehouse, forcing everyone to squint.

"Stop where you are, all of you!" A female voice boomed out over a megaphone.

"Damn it," Kitsune swore, "It's the army!"

Squinting into the bright spotlights, they could make out three humm-vee's and two female soldiers standing in front of the vehicles. "By order of the government of Japan, I place all of you under arrest! Drop your weapons and place your hands behind your heads!"

Emphasising their point, the soldiers manning the heavy machine guns atop the humm-vee's cocked their levers and took aim at the group. With no other choice the group slowly complied.

The lead soldier walked forward, until they could make her out. She had the markings of a Lieutenant, and she crossed her arms, as she came to a stop, a few feet from the group.

"Keitaro, Urashima," she said, "At least we meet. You've been causing us more problems than necessary, young man." She snapped her fingers, and the other soldier that was beside her hurried forward with cuffs.

She then looked at the motorcycle, and then to Kanako. "I suppose I should thank you for leading me to Keitaro, young miss," she said with a smile. "I knew you weren't what you said you were when you came over to HQ." Kanako growled. "I just let you do all the hard work, and follow you at a distance."

"And you called your self his true love?" Liu snarled.

"Aww, shuddup!" Kanako snapped back at her.

As cuffs were once again slapped on Keitaro he called out. "Wait!"

"Yes?" The Lt. asked.

"There are… two other males in this place. Down there." He nodded at the empty crate that covered the trap door.

"Two other males!?!" The Lt. asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Keitaro confessed. "My captors were planing on moving them out later, please, don't lave them in there!"

"We need all the men we can lay our hands on, kid," the Lt. replied, signalling for some soldiers, "We won't leave them, or you behind!"

Some time later, all of the group, including Haitani and Shirai, were cuffed and lead out to the waiting vehicles.

"You lair," Haitani whispered to Keitaro as they put lead into a different Humm vee from the girls, "You said you weren't getting with anyone but Naru," he looked over at the others, "And yet, you're in the company of three babelishes girls, man!"

"Yeah," Shirai said as he was pushed in next. "So why would you lie to us, your two best and closest friends?"

"First of all, I didn't lie to you," Keitaro said through his teeth. "And second…" He paused, sighed, and slumped back into the seat of the Hum vee. "Just forget it."

The soldier closed the door behind them and nodded at the Lt. who turned on her radio. "This is Lt. Chian. I have the fugitives in custody, and three rouge males. I am proceeding back to HQ. Over."

"Rodger that, Lt." The voice on the other end said. "See you soon. Over."

"Rodger that, HQ. Over and out."

She then climbed into the front of the humm vee, and the convoy started back for base.

"Uhh, excuses me," Keitaro said to the Lt. up front. "But, what's going to happen to the my friends?"

"Well, those gangsters, when they wake up from the mini comma they've been put into, are going away someplace nasty," she said, without turning around to face him. "As for the others, they're going to jail."

"But why?" Keitaro cried out. "They never kidnapped me! They've done nothing wrong!"

"According to the new sets of laws we passed kid, they have." She turned around to face him this time. "Anybody caught in the possession of rouge males are breaking the new repopulation laws!"

But… that's not fare!"

"Life ain't fare kid, get used to it." The Lt. said as she turned around to face the front again. "Those are the laws. I don't make them, I just follow them."

"That's just not fair on them!" Keitaro shot back. "They're just in the wrong place at the wrong time! You're not being just!"

"Just!?!" The Lt. snarled spinning around to face him. "You want to talk just!?! Hows this for just! I lost my husband, my two brothers, my father, my uncle, three cousins and my two month old son!" She glared at him through narrow eyes. "Now you tell me, is that just!?! Why are they dead when you aren't!?! Is that just!?!"

Keitaro's eyes widened in horror. He just lowered his head. "Now you see things the way I do." She snapped back at him. "So until now and the time you leave my sight, just shut the fuck up!" She then spun around to face the front.

"Way to go, dude!" Haitani hissed at him, smacking his in the head with his cuffed hands. "Piss her off why don't you!"

"I didn't…" Keitaro started when suddenly, the girl manning the heavy machine gun on the roof of the humm vee cried out in alarm. Everybody inside looked up as they heard a loud thud on the roof, then suddenly; a figure was thrown from the roof to land on the side of the road. Bullets zipped past from the machine gun of the humm vee from behind.

"We're under attack!" The Lt. cried out, drawing her pistol. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of metal, as something stuck down from the roof, and just as quickly, withdrew. "What the…!?!" The Lt. muttered, before her eye's widened. Her pistol had been severed in two.

The driver slammed on the breaks, causing all the passengers to lurch forward. A figure was thrown from the roof of the humm vee, but somersaulted in the air, to land on both feet, a short distance in front of the humm vee. The humm vee from behind made a sudden swerve in order to avoid the humm vee in front, and slammed into a wall, smashing it.

"Run her over! Run her over!" The Lt. screamed at the driver, who gunned the vehicle straight at the attacker. The attacker did not leap out of the way, but merely stood up, straight and tall. As the humm vee drew closer, she just gave a shake of her arm, and a sword fell from the sleave of her kimono.

She drew back her arm, and let fly with a wide slash. "Oh, shi---!!" The driver screamed out, before the humm vee was suddenly split clean in two. All the occupants screamed out loud as they were thrown clean from the vehicle, to land in the streets. The two halves of the humm vee sailed into the air, before exploding.

"What in God's name was that!?!" Haitani shouted as he lay on his back, moaning.

"That was… That was…" Keitaro stammered. "That was the Cutting Evil Strike: Second Form!" He gasped out loud. "The only person I know who can do that technique is…!"

He rolled over to see the figure walking towards the Lt. and the driver. The humm vee in front had pulled over, and its soldiers were running towards them, along with the soldiers from the crashed humm vee.

"Shoot her!" The Lt. cried out. "Just shoot her!" They all took aim, and fired. The girl leapt into the air twisted around, and slashed her blade in three different directions. Waves on energy blasted the area sending the soldiers sailing off into the distance, leaving only Keitaro, Haitani, and Shiria, cowering on the ground.

"Huh?" Shirai said, looking up. "Hey look guys, it's…"

"MOTOKO!?!" Kitsune cried out as she and Liu, and Kanako climbed out of the back of the crashed Humm vee. "What are you doing here!?!"

"I came here looking for someone, Kitsune," Motoko said, sheathing her sword. "They'll be arriving here in the next five minutes, when I happened to see an army patrol following Kanako." She smiled at the Goth girl. "I figured she might need some help, but I never thought I'd run into you again, Kitsune. It's good to see you again." She then nodded at Kanako. "Even you."

"Looking for someone?" Kanako said. "Now wait just a minute, Kendo girl, how did you know my brother was here?"

Motoko froze, and nearly dropped her sword. "Wait! Stop right there! Did you just say, your brother?"

"Yes she did, Motoko," Keitaro moaned, getting up. "How on earth did you know I would be here?"

Motoko stared at Keitaro for just a few seconds, her expression was blank. He was prepared for anything, but the reaction that followed. She did a double take, dropping her sword this time and screaming. She ran backwards impossibly fast, and slammed up against the back of the humm vee that had been in front.

Keitaro was confused. He hadn't seen her react that way since the time her big sister showed up. "Wh-what are you doing here!?!" She screamed out loud, pointing a shaking finger at him. "You're dead! You died! How can you be here!?!" She tried to shrink back even further. "Are you some sort of demon, sent to torment me!?!"

"Motoko…" Keitaro said, but she took a fighting stance.

"Don't come any closer, demon!" She shouted at him. She was acting like she used to do, when Tama always got too close to her.

"Motoko, I'm real!" Keitaro cried out. "Tell her, guys!" He said, turning to face the other girls.

"Motoko," Kitsune said, "That's the real Keitaro! He didn't die during the plague. In fact, he never died."

"Huh?" Motoko kept switching her view between Kitsune and Keitaro.

"It's true, Kendo girl," Kanako said. "That guy there, really is my brother. He's not dead, and he's not a demon!"

"Really?" Hesitant, she slowly stood up, and walked towards Keitaro, and reaching out with a trembling hand, touched his arm. Her eyes nearly popped from their socks as she realised he was the real McCoy.

"See," Keitaro said with a warm smile. "It really is me!" She pulled her hand back, as if she'd touch a hot plate. "It's great to see you again, Motoko." He said. Then, her eyes began to water over, and she suddenly bawled out crying, before lunching herself at him, knocking him to the ground.

"Motoko," he cried out, "It's oka…" His words were suddenly cut off as Motoko kissed him. Rather forcefully too. Haitani and Shiria both nodded at each other.

"Yep," Haitani said. "Lair."

"Motoko," Keitaro said in a muffle voice, "W-what are you…!?"

"Oh Keitaro," she said in between kisses. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you the last day we saw each other." Her arms were around him, and she was kissing him the same way Naru had kissed him on that beach, when she'd accepted his ring. "I so wanted to kill myself after I thought you were dead." Kiss, kiss. "I was in such a deep depression." Kiss, kiss. "I'm so glad that you're alive." Kiss, kiss. She then broke off her kisses, and stared lustfully into his eyes.

"Take me, right here and now, Keitaro."

BAMM!!!!

Motoko was suddenly sent spiralling into a wall, from a fly kick to the head, by a VERY enraged Liu. Her face was blood red, and her rapid breathing sounded like a gorilla, and the silent flames that covered her made her look like a creature from hell.

"NOT SO CLOSE!!!" She snarled at Motoko. Motoko rose from the rubble, and glared at her attacker.

"If you're looking for a death wish, you've found one, Ms!" She snarled, unsheathing her sword. Suddenly, she got a look of surprise on her face. "Liu? Liu Han?"

"I'm glad you remember me, Motoko," she said. "I've never forgotten you!"

"You two know each other?" Keitaro said, looking between the both of them.

"Liu was a student at the God's Cry School," Motoko replied, crouching with her sword drawn. "She studied in the same class as did I. We were to face each other one day, for the title of master swordsman…" She trailed off.

"So what happened?" He asked.

Liu chuckled silently to herself. "Well, we were very young back then, and well you see…" She broke out into giggles.

"She dropped a damn, slimy turtle down my back before the bout!" Motoko shouted.

"Yeah," Liu said. "You see, the school had a pet turtle, that was brought in Tsuruko Aoyama's future husband. It was the biggest, ugliest turtle you'd ever seen. And I dropped it right down Motoko's back when she wasn't looking." She broke out into laughter. "And it bit her butt! AHA HA HA HA!!!"

"I was so traumatised by the whole event I couldn't fight in the tournament!" Motoko hissed. "And so the title went to Liu!"

"So that's why she never liked her sisters husband, and turtles!" Keitaro said.

"She cheated, and sabotaged me!" Motoko shouted.

"I didn't mean to sabotage you," Liu said back in defence. "I only did that because you pushed me in the mud!"

"I only did that because you…" It went on like that for five full minutes, each girl accusing the other of starting the whole thing.

"Girls, girls, girls!" Keitaro quickly stepped in between them. "Can't we discus this later? Right now, let's just get out of here, before more soldiers arrive!"

"Huh?" Motoko suddenly remember something. "Oh wait! I can't leave yet, I'm still waiting for someone."

"You mentioned that before Motoko," Keitaro said. "Who are you waiting for?"

"Most likely the same thing I'M waiting for." Everybody turned their heads at the sound of a new voice. Out of the shadow's, stepped a woman dressed completely in black camouflage gear. She looked Asian, but her accent was rather off. Keitaro couldn't quite place it. Was she Chines? Korean? Vietnamese?

"Who the devil are you?" Liu demanded. "You're not after my Keitaro, are you!?!" She warned, quickly rushing to his side.

Instead, she just cocked an eyebrow, and looked at him. "So, you're Keitaro Urashima?" She walked over to him, and looked him over, walked around him a few times, then stopping in front of him, shrugged. "I don't see what's so special about you. You don't look important."

"How the hell did you find me?" Keitaro asked. He gave him a hard look.

"Are you kidding? After the fireworks display you pulled off at the warehouse, and out here, it's hard, NOT to find you."

"Then that means…"

"More soldiers are coming? Yep!" She pointed down an ally, which she had most likely come from. "We can go this way. I'm due to meet our target in less than five minutes."

"Right here?" Keitaro asked.

"My target insisted on coming here, looking for you, my dear boy. I couldn't talk them out of it, so I spent most of the night planting a few bombs around the city to set off, in order to distract the soldiers," she trailed off and looked around at the mess. "But it looks like you've created quite a distraction your self."

"Who are you?" Keitaro asked. She smiled at him.

"I'm classified," she said. "Shall we leave, or wait for the soldiers to arrive?"

"Come on!" Keitaro called to the others, and they quickly hurried away into the ally, as the sounds of approaching vehicles started drifting over the still night air.

Finally, after much running around the city, the group arrived in a residential section of the city.

"Where are we going?" Kitsune asked, as they walked among the empty houses.

"We're going to the one place where we won't be bothered," the stranger said. "The baseball diamond."

"Why there?" Kanako asked.

"After all the men died in this city, they turned the place into one big crematorium. Now none of the girls will go anywhere near it. It seems the perfect place where we can go about our business undisturbed."

They rounded a block, and came to the baseball park. It was completely disserted, with a huge dirt pile in the centre of the field. "After they'd burnt all the bodies they buried the ashes under the field." The stranger replied.

"We're going to conduct our business in a cemetery?" Keitaro cried out.

"Well, unless you can think of a better place, that's less crowded, and one where we won't be disturbed, I'll be more than happy to hear it," the stranger said sharply. "Besides. My target insisted on meeting me here."

"Why?" Keitaro asked.

"Because you would be here, that's why." She said. They all went through the front entrance and onto the field.

"All right, now that we're here, who, or what is this 'target' you keep talking about?" Keitaro said.

"Yeah," both Kanako, Kitsune, Liu, Haitani and Shiria all said at once.

"Actually, Keitaro," Motoko said. "It's someone you know, very well."

"Someone I know very well?" Keitaro said. Suddenly his eyes widened. "You mean Naru!?!"

Before anyone could answer, Haitani looked up at the sky. "Is that a plane?" He asked. They all listened.

"Yes it is," the stranger replied. "That means our target is right on time."

The buzzing sound drew closer, and closer, until they could make out a dark shape, moving against the night sky. But, before anyone could say anything, the plane suddenly dipped down, and screamed straight for the baseball diamond.

The group was silent for a few seconds, before they all suddenly screamed, and scattered in every direction. However, the plane seemed to follow Keitaro, slamming nose first into the ground, and skidding along after him, tearing up grass and dirt as it closed in on him.

Keitaro ran screaming for his life as the plane followed, drawing closer, and closer, until he suddenly found himself up against a wall. With no chance of escape, he turned to face the plane, coming up on him. He closed his eyes and began to pray.

The plane began to slow down from all the traction, and came to a steady stop, it's nose, a few inches from Keitaro's face. Keitaro gasped out loud and collapsed on the ground.

"Keitaro!?!" Liu cried out, rushing over to him. "Are you alright?"

"Hands off him, Missy!" Kanako shouted, pushing her aside.

"One side, you sicko!" Motoko yelled, charging into her back with her shoulder. "Keitaro's mine!"

"no," Liu growled. "He's mine!"

"You're both psycho's!" Kanako cried. "He doesn't want ether of you!"

"Oh God," Keitaro muttered. "Please, if you really do love me, strike me with a lighting bolt now!"

Suddenly, the door of the plane swung open, and out jumped Sarah MacDougal. She looked around at the gathered crowd and grinned. "Well, well, well," she said, looking at the Hinata girls, Haitani, and Shiria. "Fancy meeting all of you freaks here!" She looked past them at Keitaro on the ground. "Wow, whaddya know, he DID survive."

"Oh me, oh my," a shaky voice said from the plane, and a taller figure stepped out. "That was rather dangerous," Mutsumi Otohime replied placing a hand to her forehead. She looked over at the group. "Oh, hi Keitaro. What was the afterlife like?"

"You twit!" Sarah scowled at her. "He was never dead."

"Sarah!?! Mitsumi!?!" Keitaro cried out. "What are you guys doing here!?!" Then, he paused, as something they both said got to him slower than it should have. "Wait a minute! Y-you guys aren't surprised I'm still alive?" Keitaro asked, getting up, and walking over to them.

"Well, no," Mitsumi replied. "We always knew you were alive."

"How!?!" Keitaro cried out.

"Because I told them," a voice said from the plane. Keitaro turned and looked at the door, as a tall figure stepped forth and into the moonlight.

"Y-y-y-you!" He cried out, falling over in surprise.

"Nice to see you too, Part-Timer," Seta replied, pulling a large shard of glass from his head.

**MORE TO COME...**


	7. On the Road again Without Nelson

**AUTHOR's NOTE: **Well, it's been a while since my last update. After chapter 6, I went on holidays, and would you believe it, I CAUGHT THE FREAK'N FLUE! It got so bad I couldn't spend more than 5 minutes in front of a computer screen without going haywire. But I'm back now. Enjoy!

**"Well I've been runn'n down the road, Try'n to loosen my load,"**

**"I've got several women on my mind!"**

**"Four that wanna own me,"**

**"Two that wanna show me,"**

**"One says she's a friend of mine!"**

**_The Eagles - "Take'n it Easy,"_**

Seta applied some small bandages to the holes in his head, before tossing the shard of glass away. He glanced down at Keitaro who still looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Oh come on now, you really think I'd be dead?"

"Well, yes!" Keitaro said. "The plague killed all the men, so I figured…"

"It'll take quite a lot more than a little plague to do me in, Part-Timer," Seta said, reaching out a hand to help Keitaro stand.

"How come you never told me you knew how to fly a plane?" Keitaro said, looking at the plane, which surprisingly seemed to have little damage.

"Really, Aha ha, ha! I thought I told you." Keitaro shook his head. "Well, a professor in Archaeology has to be able to do these things, Part-Timer."

"Say," Keitaro said, placing his hands on his hips. "How did you know I would be here? And why do you need me?"

"Now that you mention it," the stranger in black butted in, "I would like to know that answer too?"

"All that will be explained in due time," Seta replied, dusting himself of, "But not right now, you see, I'm not exactly alone." At that very moment, a sudden roar filled the sky and the whole group looked up to see two jet fighters screaming in low over the field.

"I told you this would happen!" The stranger in black shouted at Seta. They zoomed in low over the park, before looping back, and driving straight for the group.

"Take cover everyone," Motoko said unsheathing her sword. "I'll take care of this!" She drew her blade arm back, but before she could swing it forward, the two jets started firing their cannons. Bullet's tore up the diamond and fountained up dirt and grass around Motoko.

There was a loud 'SPANG' and when the two jets stoped firing doubled back, Motoko brought her sword forward, but could only gap as she stared at the stump of her sword, which had been shot off.

"Oh yeah, that solved it," Liu snickered.

"Somebody, do something!" Kitsune cried out. As the planes looped back and dove for the group once more, Haitani and Shirai both screamed and dived into the players box. "Somebody do something intelligent!" Kitsune cried out.

The strange woman in the black camouflage gear was already one step ahead of the group. She'd been assembling some sort of rifle all the while. Now completed, she hoisted it to her shoulder and squinted down the scope.

The jets screamed in low, and started firing once more. She stood her ground as dirt, and grass fountained up around her. A bullet zipped past her left ear taking some of her hair with it. She narrowed her eyes, and squeezed the trigger.

The riffle bucked violently as she held the trigger down, firing in rapid succession. Suddenly, one of the jets's exploded in a spectacular fireball, leaving only the nose and cockpit left. The pilot immediately ejected, while the surviving jet banked hard right and screamed away.

"Wow," Keitaro said as she lowered the weapon. "That's one hell of a gun."

"It's not that powerful, really," she replied, scanning the sky to see what the other jet was doing. "I just aimed at what looked like the spear fuel tank, and just kept on firing till I hit something important."

What was left of the jet crashed down to earth and exploded. The pilot came down outside the park. The surviving jet was now beating a hasty retreat.

"They're leaving," Keitaro observed

"And may I suggest that we do exactly the same?" The commando replied.

"I have some transportation just being detained at one of the check points at the edge of the city," Motoko said. "We can take that."

"We have transport of our own," Kitsune said, "I saw we make a run for it."

"What's wrong with the plane?" Keitaro asked.

"Outta fuel," Seta said, grabbing Keitaro by the collar and dragging him along. "So let's go."

"Wait!" The commando said, grabbing Seta's shoulder. "Where is the package?" Motoko seemed interested in that question to.

Seta patted a single shoulder strap bag with something inside. "Right here," he said, "Let's go!"

"What's that?" Keitaro asked, eyeing the shoulder bag.

"I'll explain later," just said, "Come on!"

"What? Oh God, what a waist of a good jet! Now, what about this group of people, hmmm?" Major Kiska leaned back in her seat as the black hawk zoomed low over the landscape. She held a walkie-talkie up to her ear as she listened to Lt. Chian explained to her everything that had happened.

"God Damn it, where the hell do all these people keep coming from?" The Major paused while the Lt. on the other side replied. "It would seem that the ring of steel you said had engulfed the town is a little rusty. I want you to order every available soldier you have to search outside the town now! If they easily slipped into town, they should be able to slip back out!" The Lt. started protesting, and Major Kiska sighed as she listened to the Lt. whine about the lack of soldiers for doing that task.

"Look, I'm on my way, just do the best you can until I arrive, okay?" The Lt. then started talking about something else.

"Of cause I've got some extra fire power, Lt." She replied. "I've got my own special opp's with special abilities. Over and Out!"

She hooked the walkie-talkie back to her belt, and looked over at the woman next to her. "Cutting a Hum vee in half? That sounds a lot like the Gods Cry Clan if you ask me."

"I'm not asking you where she's from, Number 8," Major Kiska said. "What I'm asking you is can you deal with her?"

"They are a tough breed," Number 8 replied, unsheathing her sword just a fraction so she could look at her own reflection in the shiny blade. "But nothing I can't handle. They must be after Keitaro for the sole peropus of prosperity."

"Great," Major Kiska muttered leaning back into her seat as she looked out at the passing scenery. "Just what I need. More unscheduled players."

"Just out of curiosity, just how many factions have we got after this kid now?"

"As far as I know, we have 3, maybe four if you want to count the God Cry Clan."

"Why is this kid so valuable? We have other males who are much healthier, physically fit, and superior to Keitaro. So why all the trouble?"

"That reason is classified, Number 8," Major Kiska said sharply. "The lest people who know why, the better."

"Damn!" Number 8 replied, her eyes widening. "Now I'm more interested than before."

The lone soldier guarding the horse and cart was getting rather edgy. She had been waiting for quite some time, and still her partner had not come back.

She looked up as the headlight of a motor biker began to approach her checkpoint. She walked towards the bike, holding up her hand to block out the light.

"Hey, I remember you!" She said, as the rider came to a stop. "You're that… Huh?" She looked over the rider's shoulder at another horse and cart coming up from behind. "Hey what's…!"

"Look," the rider said, grabbing her attention. "We're in a bit of a hurry, so I'll make this quick. I'm going to knock you out!"

The soldier didn't even get a chance to reply, before Kanako just punched her directly in the face, causing her to summersault into a tree, knocking her out.

Kanako then ripped off the mask she'd been wearing, and turned off her bikes engine. The horse and covered wagon following her came to a stop, and out jumped Motoko.

"Quick," Motoko said, as she hurried over to her own wagon, while Kitsune, and Kanako loaded the bike into the back of Kitsune's covered wagon.

"Okay," here's how we'll travel," Seta said, "Kanako, Liu, Sera Mitsune, and Agent…!"

"A-hem!" The commando coughed rather loudly as she shot Seta a death look.

"Well, you then, you can all ride in Motoko's wagon, while Kitsune, Keitaro, and you three boys will ride in the covered wagon."

"What?" Liu cried out. "How come I can't ride in the covered wagon with Keitaro?"

"Because there's not enough room, that's why," Seta replied. "Plus how much attention do you think four males will draw in plain sight of Motoko's wagon?"

"Let's not stand here and argue this," the commando said, grabbing Liu and dragging her towards Motoko's wagon. "Let's get outta here, now!"

Soon, they were all in their respective wagons, and leaving the city far behind them. Keitaro watched from the back of the wagon, as the city fell behind the hills. He let the flap fall back down, and turned to Seta.

"Hey Seta, where are we going?" He asked, "We're heading East right?"

"That's right part-timer," Seta replied. "We're heading towards the ocean."

"The ocean?" Keitaro exclaimed. "Why?"

"I was in the middle of a mission Keitaro, when the plague hit I kinda got side tracked. But now, I have a promise to keep, and a mystery to solve."

"Mystery?" Keitaro said, "What mystery?"

"Why, the mystery of how we survived the plague, Part-timer, what else?" Seta answered.

"E-Excuse me?" Keitaro asked. Behind them, near the front of the wagon, Haitani and Shirai heard this, and moved closer to Seta and Keitaro, hoping to catch what was going on.

"The plague?" Haitani asked. "On how we survived the plague?"

"Yeah," Seta answered. "The surviving males who did live through the plague were lucky. No matter how devastating the odds, statistically, a few will always survive. Natural immunity helped them with survival, but not us!"

"What do you mean?"

"Allow me to explain," the commando suddenly said, popping up from behind Keitaro.

"What the hell!" Keitaro cried out. "Weren't you in the other wagon?"

"Yeah, but I decided to come back over to this one," she then eyed the shoulder bag around Seta, "Mainly to keep an eye on him."

"So, you were going to explain?" Shirai interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, like I was saying." The commando cleared her throat. "Before the world collapsed, it was discovered that the virus originated from Iraq, in one of the hidden biological weapons factories of Sadam. After the first Gulf War, Sadam realised he couldn't fight the American's with technology, so he turned to biology. However, using germ weapons against the American's would seal his fate, so he needed a weapon of pure deniability."

"The common cold!" Keitaro cried out. The commando nodded.

"Yeah, but the problem is, how to make it effective enough to stop an full fledged invasion? Through genetic modification, Sadam was able to create a virus that changed it's form, when anti-bodies attacked it, so no matter what your bodies immune systems would do, the virus would still stick. That's how it would infect mass amounts of troops."

"So what happened next?" Haitani asked.

"As far as we can tell, progress on the virus was rather slow, and when George Bush started getting tough, Sadam urged his scientific team to hurry up. Unfortunately, in order to hurry up, you have to cut corners, and safety was one of those corners they cut. On the eve of the war, a test tube was accidentally broken, and the automatic shutdown system failed to respond quickly enough. One of the workers at the plant made it out, and escaped to American lines. He was exposed to the soldiers of both America and Britain. After the war, most of those soldiers went home, and the virus spread from there."

"So how did we survive?" Keitaro asked.

"That!" The commando said, pointing at Seta. Or rather, the shoulder strap bag. "That's how."

"What?" All three of the boys said.

"Oh, she means, this." Seta said, opening up the bag, and pulling out a vase. It was a strange vase with a narrow top, but the most piacular thing about it, were the three eyes on its face, and a small cross in the middle.

"I've never seen that thing before in my life," Keitaro said, pointing a finger at it. "And how in God's name, did that thing save my life?"

"Along time ago, Keitaro, when you were just a baby, and I had just discovered this vase, you accidentally got away from Haruka's care and found this vase." With that, Seta then reached over to the stop per in the vase, and pulled it out. He tilted the vase forward, and to everyone's surprise, the contents was…

"Water!" Keitaro cried out. "I'm alive because I drank some water!"

"Not just any water, Keitaro," Seta said. "This water is all that is left of the once fabled fountain of youth."

Keitaro, Haitani, and Shirai all blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?" Shirai said.

"That's right, the Fountain of Youth." Seta said. "Well, that's its European name anyway. It has many names, but it really depends on which culture you're familiar with. The Japanese name for it, translates into 'The Well of Immortality.' And when you were young, you drank from this vase."

"Wait a minute," Haitani said, "We never drank from that vase, so how come we survived?"

"Oh, you two, you're just freaks of nature." Seta waved their comment away with the flick of his wrist.

Both Haitani and Shirai's faces sagged. "Dude," Shirai said to Haitani, "No matter what happens to us, even in this lousy Fan Fiction, we always end up getting the ass end of the situation."

Seta ignored them, as he continued. "The point is, that I've been searching all my life for this vase ever since it was stolen from me many years ago. Now, I have a promise to keep, and a mission to for fill."

"What mission?"

"To return the vase to its rightful resting place, that's what," the commando said. "Now, no more on that, until we meet up with our transport!"

"Transport!" Liu cried out, "What transport!"

"What are you doing here?" The Commando said.

"I saw you sneaking off into this wagon!" She replied. "So I decided to see what you are up to!"

"My mission is top secret! If anyone were to find out about this vase, they would stop at nothing to get their hands on it, or to discover it's scientific secrets!"

"Scientific secrets?" Keitaro asked.

"The water from the fountain is all gone, except for this sample here," Seta said, placing the stopper back in the top. "Around the base of the original fountain, where the water came from, it was discovered the wrecks of millions of tiny Nanno-machines, which is what gives the fountain it's immortality."

Keitaro jerked, as he realised the meaning of that. "Then… Then that means…!"

"You've got those nanno-machines inside your body? Yep!" Keitaro swallowed nervously. "They repair the host body that they live in, repairing any and all damage that occurs to the host as fast as they can. Kinda like having an internal repair system."

Of cause, it all made sense. His immortality. His ability to take hits that would've killed an ordinary man. He never really understood what kept him alive through all those attacks the girls launched on him, but now it was all finally clear. Nanno-machines. Millions of tiny microscopic robots, and they were all inside him.

"Wait a minute!" Kanako said, "If this well was around for thousands of years, where did these robots come from?"

"God, it's getting cramped in here!" Shirai said, moving over to make room.

"That's what I was trying to find out all those years ago," Seta said. "All I've been able to find out, is that it has some kind of connection with the lost Turtle civilisation that once existed on Pararakelse Island."

Keitaro blinked in surprise. There was a name he thought he'd never here again. "So, that's what you were doing there when I found you," Keitaro replied.

"Right again, Part-Timer," Seta said. "However, I lost the vase many years ago, to a an International Art Theft Ring. Ever since then, I've been trying to unlock the clues of the vase with what evidence I had uncovered before the vase was stolen. My recent archaeological dig was not really a dig at all, but a disguise, because sources had located the vase for me."

"Wow," Keitaro muttered, as Sara pushed him aside to make room.

"Unfortunately, the Virus seriously derailed my plans to return it to…"

"Not yet, asshole!" The commando warned.

"Sorry!" Seta answered as he shifted for Mitsume. "But I realised that you still had the nanno-machines in your system, Keitaro, so I had to come and pick you up before continuing!"

"Continuing to where?" Motoko asked.

"None of your business," the commando snapped back at her. "And now that we all know what the vase is for, it's obvious that the God's Cry Clan wants its powers for themselves!"

"Our clan is in danger of dying out," Motoko snapped. "We need just a small test tube of water, that will be all!"

"Sorry, but you get nothing!" The commando said crossing her arms. "If my employers found out I let strangers dip their hands into their goods, they'll never give me the rest of my payment!"

"The government has denied us any use of their males, and without prosperity, the future of my clan is at stake," Motoko growled. "I will do what ever it takes to get some of that water!"

"Hey Motoko, chill!" Keitaro said, grabbing her shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find a way to shear it with your clan." Just then, he paused, and looked around at everyone in the wagon. "Hey, wait a second! Motoko, who's driving your wagon?"

Everyone frowned, and looked over at Motoko. Just then, there was a loud crash from outside. "Uh-oh!" She muttered.

Major Kiska just shook her head is disgust as the unconscious soldier was carried away on a stretcher. The Black hawk was not far away, its rooters still spinning, as Lt. Chian came running up to her.

"Don't bother trying to explain this Lt." Major Kiska snapped turning away from her. "Keitaro got away, that's all you can say to me!"

"At least we know what direction they're going in," the Lt. replied hastily, trying to salvage some pride. "If we send out some air units, I'm sure we can…"

"Expect a repeat of what happened with the jets? Oh, absolutely," The Major snapped back. "We have very few fighter pilots Lt. All our top pilots were males. We've practically had to start again from scratch, and those two pilots we sent up are clearly proof that we still need more practice."

The Lt. frowned. Why was she concerned with airpower? Instead, she asked, "So, what are we going to do?"

"I'll go ahead and take charge of this matter, personally." She said, marching back towards the black hawk. "This chase has gone on for too long, and I can't afford to leave this matter to the incompetence of underlings!"

The Lt. stopped dead in her tracks, seething at the insult, but said nothing. She watched as the Major climbed into the chopper, and its rooters sped up. As it took off, she caught site of a black clad figure sitting in the seat next to her.

Then, the chopper was airborne, and zooming off in the direction the road was going. East.

"What was all that about?" Number 8 asked the Major the moment they were airborne.

"My arse is secure for the moment because the Japanese government has bigger things to worry about at the moment." The Major replied. "It seems the women of China seem to have their male counterparts ambitions for domination." Her eyes narrowed and she gave a glimpse of her teeth. "About twelve hours ago, they launched an amphibious invasion of Taiwan."

"You're joking, right?"

"I wish I were," The Major sighed. "Who knows how it will turn out, maybe the Chines will win, or maybe the Taiwanese will win. Can't say for certain, but we didn't have much in the way of an army before the plague, and what little we do have, we need to preserve."

"You think the Chines can pull it off?" Number 8 asked. "What have they got to gain? No natural recourses, or anything. I heard no males survived the plague in Taiwan. What's to gain?"

"A message, that's what." Major Kiska said.

"What message?"

"That we're large, and in charge, that's what," the Major said. "The UN's broken down, all the first world countries are having the devil's own within their own borders. What ever happens in this part of the world, happens. At the moment, China is the greatest power in this part of the world. They have nukes, and they have the numbers! It's simply a way of saying, we're number one, and you aren't! That could lead to them bullying their neighbours for favours or extortion."

"Thank God North Korea collapsed," Number 8 said with a sigh. "Could you imagine that country still in power?"

"Yeah, but the South moved into the North after the collapse, and now has control over their nuclear program! And they hate both us and the Chines!" The Major shook her head. "So many enemies, and so few friends!" Number 8 leaned back in her seat, and laughed out loud. "What's so funny?" Major Kiska asked.

"Just something I remember reading once." She said. "Albert Enstine once said, As long as there are men, there shall always be wars!"

"Well, there are still some men left around," Major Kiska said with a half smile. "And it was the men who created the plague! There fore, they are the ones responsible for putting us in this mess in the first place, so this is all their fault, not ours!"

"Is it?" Number 8 asked, not looking at her. "Is it really?"

The sun was just starting to break over the hilltops as Keitaro opened his eyes. He yawned, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, as he stretched, accidentally kicking Hiatani in the head. The guy just grunted and rolled over.

Keitaro chuckled to himself. He'd probably sleep through a gun battle. UP the front, The Commando sat at the reigns of the horse, while Kitsune slept next to her. Seta was snoring happily, while keeping one arm around his shoulder bag.

Keitaro was distracted by the commando, humming an odd tune. With nothing else to do, he focused in on her, listening to her, as she added words to the song.

"Yane no ue de sora o aogu, hizashi wa uraraka!"

"Miageru sora karadajuu genki ga minagitteku!"

"That's so wonderful! Ikiterunda!"

"Yamerarenai, akirameru da nante!"

"That's a weird song," Keitaro said, catching the commando's attention, and causing her to stop signing. "Where did you here that one from?"

"Oh, some animie series called Love H!"

"Hey are we there yet?" Seta called out, cutting her off as he looked out the front of the wagon.

"We'll be there, when we get there," the commando replied.

"Why can't you tell me who you're working for?" Keitaro asked. "It's not like I'm going to plaster it all over the Internet."

"My employers paid me an emperors ransom to not only get that vase back to them, but to keep quite as well. Since my former bosses are all dead and their country collapsed, I've got no other source of income save being a gun for hire! That and they're holding the rest of my payment as a promise I won't blab! So, if I want to get paid, I'll keep my mouth shut about whom I'm working for! They gave inspissate instructions not to reveal to anyone who I'm working for. And since you weren't included in the contract, you're out of the loop!"

"Actually, Keitaro," Seta said, "since you're coming with me, I'll tell you, she works for…" That was about as far as he got, before the commando spun around and punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out.

Seta slumped forward, and fell down into Keitaro's lap. His body twitched, and he lay still. "Was that really necessary?" Keitaro asked.

"I want to get the rest of my payment, so yeah, it was!" The commando replied. "Besides, even though you'll find out eventually, there's no way I could prove to my new bosses that I didn't tell you who they were."

Keitaro opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing. There was no point arguing with her. She wasn't going to tell him, and nether was Seta… Well, at least for the next hour or so. He quickly removed Seta from his lap, and moved to the back of the wagon. Moving it aside ever so slightly, he looked out the back.

Motoko was sitting at the helm of her wagon, with the rest of the girls sleeping in the back. She saw him and waved. Keitaro smiled, and waved back. Motoko quickly looked back at the others, and then turning around, waved Keitaro over to her.

Keitaro frowned. Was that a good idea. He looked back into the wagon. The others were still sleeping and that commando was signing that anime tune again. He looked back to see Motoko waved him over again. There was no other traffic on the road, and no houses anywhere in sight.

Oh, what the hell.

Ever so quietly, he dropped out of the back of the wagon, and quickly hurried over to Motoko's, climbing up into the spear drivers seat. "Thanks for coming over Keitaro," Motoko said as he sat down next to her.

"Eh, it's no biggie," Keitaro said with a shrug. "The others are all asleep in the wagon, and G.I. Jane isn't much of a conversationalist."

"Yeah, it's pretty boring over too," Motoko answered. Suddenly, Liu gave out a snore that sounded like a chainsaw. "Need I say anything else," Motoko muttered under her breath.

A few moments passed, before Keitaro asked, "You're not after just a 'test tube' of the water, are you Motoko." It wasn't exactly a question.

"No," she confessed. "The well of immortality works in my different ways. Depending on how much you drink of the water, means you'll have more nanno-machines in your system. The more you have, the more good they'll do for you." She looked down at his stomach. "You only have invincibility, which probably means you didn't drink very much. Your lack of physical appearance is clearly proof of that."

Keitaro's face sulked. "Thanks," he muttered.

"And as I said earlier, the government has denied us any access to what's left of the male population of Japan. Our clan is dying out once more, Keitaro. If I can drink quite a lot of the water from that vase, I could prolong my life span, long enough to live into the times when things return to normal, or at least to before the plague. That one our clan, and our skills, and our history, can live on, start again from scratch."

Keiaro just nodded. At this particular point in time, all people could think about these days were surviving. How much of the water could she be able to drink to help her last for a long time. How long would HE live for? He decided he didn't want to think about that, and thought about how he could change the subject. "Say Motoko," Keitaro asked. "What was with you back in there when you kisses me like that?" Keitaro asked.

Motoko blushed. "It's… Well, complicated." She said.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Well, after I put you into a coma, that's when the plague hit. At first, when we didn't know it only effected men, but buy the time that was clear to all of us at the Hinata dorm, the government had cordoned off the hospital. Of cause, buy then, half the patients in the hospital were dead, along with most of the doctors and staff." She looked down at her feet and bit her bottom lip. "Of cause, we all thought you were dead too, and Naru…" She trailed off. "Naru blamed me for your death. If I hadn't put you into a coma, you probably won't have died. Naru keep saying she could've protected you herself, and every time she saw me, she let me know that." Her eyes narrowed at the bad memories. "Dear God, did she let me know that."

"That's okay, Motoko," Keitaro said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I've forgiven you for the coma incident."

"But Naru didn't!" Motoko shot back. "Before I left, Haruka told me you could here her screaming at me from the market place. I was able to take it at first, but then…" She seemed to stumble a bit. "Then the others started avoiding me. Even Su! They weren't vocal like Naru was, but I could see it in their eyes. The way they turned their heads away from me, every time I entered the room. They blamed me for your death. I finally left when I was talking with Haruka about it, and… and even from the sound of her voice, I could tell she harboured the same feelings as well!"

Keitaro was stunned. The girls all cared for him that much! Even Naru!

"It was clear that the others didn't want me around anymore, so I left and returned to my clan, and my elder sister. I told her everything that happened to me, and why I left. She told me that what happened was not my fault, and it would've been impossible for you to survive if I hadn't knocked you out. She said the others just needed a scapegoat. But… But deep down in side, I couldn't let the feeling go. After being yelled at for so long, and having all my friends blame me like that, even I began to believe that they were right! That I was responsible for your death." She scrunched up her face as her eyes began to water. "That I had killed you!"

"Oh," was all Keitaro could say.

"After I had returned to my sister, I began to realise that Kitsune was right all those times. That I DID have feelings for you, but I never would show them. The truth is Keitaro, I am in love with you! I always was before the plague, and even from the very first day you arrived at the Hinata Dorm, I did feel some attraction to you! I was just too stubborn to show them, that's all! My guilt of having killed you, and never gotten the chance to tell you that I indeed loved you ate away at me for quite some time!"

"I had a feeling you loved me," Keitaro said with a small smile, as he put an arm around Motoko.

Motoko smiled back, and leaned against his shoulder. "So when I saw you, and realised you were alive…" She shrugged. "It all came rushing back to me so fast even I wasn't aware of what I was doing until Liu attacked me." She chuckled. "Oh, by the way, I wasn't kidding when I asked you to have sex with me." Keitaro moved back a fraction and gave a nervous smile.

"You weren't?"

"Nope," she said moving closer, and placing a single finger on his chest. "That offer's still up for grabs…" she let the finger trail down his shirt to his pants, and the moment she said grabs, she squeezed his pants. Keitaro gave out a small 'epp,' and shot up straight. "Just say the word, and I'll make us both happy!"

Suddenly two hands wrapped themselves around Motoko's neck and started chocking her. Keitaro reared back in time to see Liu, red with anger throttling Motoko.

"Hey, hey HEY!" Keitaro cried pulling the two girls apart. "Liu, what about your arm!"

"What's all the commotion up there!" Kanako muttered rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey, Dorkster!" Sara snapped, "If you and your girlfriends are going to have a threesome, could you do it somewhere else! I'm try'n to sleep here!"

"A threesome?" Mutsumi said with a chuckle, "Wow, Keitaro, you're really getting into this situation!"

"What!" Kanako cried out loud, looking up at the drivers seat. The angle of the position of Liu, Motoko, and Keitaro, tyring to pull the two of them apart, looked very sexual from Kanako's point of view. "Prepare to die!" She shouted as she leapt at the other two girls.

Kanako leapt into the mess, and all three girls fell of the wagon onto the side of the road, where they continued to duke it out. "Cool," Sara grinned rushing over to watch the fight. "This is better than the WWF!"

Keitaro watched the girls for a while, before turning back to the front. With a sigh he let his head fall into his right hand. "And those guys on the wounder why I haven't had any sex yet."

Number 8 reached over and pulled Major Kiska's sleave to get her attention. The Major took her ear away from the walkie-talkie and shot her a glair.

"What is it? I'm busy!" She snapped.

"My ninja senses are tingling," she said, "We're getting close to Keitaro!" Major Kiska just blinked back at her.

"Your what senses are WHAT!" The Major asked.

"Never mind," she said. "Just take us down here, I'll go the rest of the way on foot! Just make sure to be handy, I'll need some back up, but I want to have the element of surprise when I launch my attack!"

Major Kiska just gave her a hard look. "Fine, We'll stay just behind you, but it will take some time to arrive once you do strike!"

The Black Hawk came down to earth, and hovering just above the ground, allowed Number 8 to jump to the ground. She nodded to the Major. "I'll give you a minute warning before I'll launch my attack. Just make sure you're there in time to back me up!"

"We will," Major Kiska shouted back over the helicopter blades, as she gestured towards the woods. "Move out!"

"Just a sec," Number 8 said. "I've gotta activate my battle gear!"

Before Major Kiska could ask what that meant, Number 8 nodded, then suddenly struck a fighting pose, before yelling, "Sprit of Japan! Give me STRENGHT!" Major Kiska blinked in surprise then jumped, as a bright white light engulfed Number 8. This was followed by a techno music track before the light cleared, leaving Number 8 dressed from head to toe in what looked like a cheap rip-off of a power rangers costume.

"What the fuck…!" The major shouted. Everyone else in the chopper was blinking in surprised shock at the ninja. "That corny line activates your battle gear!"

Number 8 gave a half shrug. "Yeah, the Joint Chiefs of Staff blew the defence budget on a lot of ridicules crap last year." She then smiled as she struck another pose. "But you gotta admit, it's really cool!"

The Major just turned to the soldier next to her and whispered, "I think this story is losing its believability."

"Compared to what?" The soldier said. "A single dorky guy living with seven hottie chicks - who are all after him - in a mansion with a flying turtle and a talking cat!"

"Owie, owie, owie!" Kanako complained as Mitsumi applied a bandaid to her nose. Beside her, Motoko sat nursing her ankle, while Liu sulked at the pain in her wounded shoulder.

"Serves all of you right," the Commando snapped, as Mitsumi finished up. "How many times must I remind all of you that we're on the run from the Japanese military! Do you think they'll sit idle while you three screw each other over!"

The three of them said nothing.

"I think they've learnt their lesson," Keitaro said. "Do you really have to keep yelling at them?"

"Of cause I do!" The Commando snapped. "No where in my contract dose it state, I have to deal with three extra males and three over-sexed girls! My orders are to get Seta and that Vase back to my bosses, no matter what!" She pointed her finger at the three bandaged up girls. "If you three are going to tag along, that's fine, but if you're going to hold me up, and get in the way of my mission, then that's where I draw the line!" She leaned over all three of them with a nasty scowl. "Ether shape up, or ship out! Pull something like this again and you're on your own!"

Then, she spun about, and marched back to Kitsune's wagon. "Come on," Keitaro said to the others, "We'd better get going, before she leaves us behind."

"You, in the back!" The Commando snapped at Keitaro. "If we're not going to be held up, I'm going to have to separate you from the girls!"

Keitaro climbed into the back of the wagon. "Can't he…" Liu started but the commando shot her a deadly look that quickly shut her up.

From the bushes, a pair of eyes watched as they all climbed back into their wagons, and started off down the road. She then raised a walkie-talkie to her ear and pressing the button on the side, whispered a few words into the speaker, before slowly melting back into the shadows.

"Do you here something?" Keitaro asked, looking up at the canvas roof of the wagon.

"If it's those girls again, I'm going to kill them!" The commando spat.

"No, it's not them," Keitaro said, looking out the back of the wagon. "Something else." There was a low, but steady drumbeat, approaching from the west. The others inside the wagon raised their ears to the roof and listened.

The commando's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh shit!" She gasped.

"Is that a helicopter?" Shirai asked.

"Into the woods!" The commando suddenly shouted. "Quick!"

Before anyone could move, there were five loud bangs, and the wagon suddenly began to fill with a thick grey smoke. Keitaro was dully aware of the Commando pulling on some kind of gas mask, before Seta grabbed him around the neck and rushed him out of the wagon.

They hurried off to the side of the road, but before Seta could rush into the bushes with Keitaro, two ninja stars landed before his feet, causing him to come to a screeching halt.

Seta narrowed his eyes at the stars, and looked up, right at some ninja girl, carrying a large sword.

"Well, well, well," the Number 8 said smiling beneath her facemask. "Professor Noriyasu," she said. "My day keeps getting better and better!"

"Chan?" Seta replied, dropping Keitaro and taking a fighting stance. "I suppose running back into you would be inevitable."

"You two know each other?" Keitaro asked, spitting out some grass from his mouth.

"From a while back," Seta said, as the two started circling around each other. "She used to be a gun for hire, before the Japanese secret service convinced her to join their ranks."

"But before then, Seta and I clashed a number of times, over artefacts that my employers desired for their personal collection." She then lunged at Seta with a battle cry.

"Are you after the vase as well, Chan?" Seta asked, blocking the blow by clasping the blade of her sword with both hands.

"What vase?" She said, as she kicked out with her right leg, sending Seta tumbling head over heals. "I'm after the kid and his friends," she then smirked, as Seta used his fall to land on his hands, and vault back upright. "And since you're still alive, I guess that includes you too!"

"I guess I should've seen that one coming too," Seta replied, as he charged at Number 8 with a childish smile.

By now, the others had gathered by the side of the road, watching the battle between Seta, and some ninja chick.

"Wow," Kitsune said to Motoko, "She's got some pretty slick moves herself."

"They're nothing," Motoko said drawing her sword. "In a few seconds I'll…!" Her voice trailed off as she suddenly found herself looking at the shattered stump of her sword. "Oh yeah, that's right," she muttered sheathing it again.

"So what do we do?" Liu asked, looking down at her arm in the sling.

Her question was answered as two missiles slammed into the ground, not far from the group, knocking them all of their feet. They all looked up to see a Black Hawk zoom in low, firing a side mounted gatling gun at them. The all managed to scramble out of the way, before bullets tore up the ground they were resting on.

The chopper zoomed low overhead, and then hovering in mid-air, did an abrupt 180-degree turn, and zoomed back towards them.

"Keitaro!" Liu called out to him and his two male friends. "You guys run for cover, now!"

"But…!" Keitaro protested, before the commando suddenly leapt over him, pistol in hand.

"Better do as she said kid," she cried, firing off a few shots at the Gatling gunner, "Things are going to get very hectic!" The gunner flinched from the shots, stopping her from shooting, and giving the other girls time to run for cover themselves.

For a moment, the chopper hung there in mid-air, not sure of what to do. "Idiot's!" Major Kiska shouted, pushing the gunner out of the way, "Circle back and attack those other girls before they get into the woods!" She then took aim at the commando, and squeezed of a few bursts at her, causing her to run for cover as well.

"W-what do we do?" Hitania stuttered, watching the chopper dive on the Hinata girls.

"We run," Keitaro said, getting up of the ground, "There's nothing much we can do, except get in the way!"

"Awesome!" Sara said, watching everything take place from Kitsune's wagon. "This is better than an action movie!" Beside her, Mutsumi snored peacefully.

"You should just give up, Seta," Number 8 said, as Seta ducked a swipe from her blade. "I don't intend to harm any of you!"

"Just give up?" Seta said in surprise, as he blocked the blow that came back, "Now, where's the fun in that?"

"Still playing games?" Number 8 snorted, as she kicked out, catching Seta just under the chin, knocking him over. "Don't you realise that the survival of our species is at stake?"

"Of cause I do," he said, landing on his feet, and springing back towards her, catching her right wrist. "But I have a mission to fulfil, and a promise to keep." He then pulled hard, throwing her over his shoulder. "So, sorry, I can't go with you just yet!"

Number 8 flipped through the air to land neatly on both feet. "In that case, I'm going to have to do this the hard way!" She muttered some arcane words, before the tip of her sword began glowing. Then, with a low cry, brought it forward and hurled a bolt of purple energy towards him.

Seta wasn't able to doge in time, and the bolt hit him and exploded. When the smoke cleared, Seta stood there covered from head to toe in charcoal black. "Ouch," he muttered, before shaking himself like a wet dog. After shaking all the black soot of him, he whipped some sweat from his forehead and smiled. "It'll take a lot more than that to defeat me!"

In the skies above, Major Kiska fired at the fleeing girls on the ground. She flinched as bullets struck the metal shield in front of her, and she swung the gun towards the other black clad figure on the ground. "So," she muttered, firing a few burst at the woman, causing her to run for cover again. "That woman, she's obviously been trained by a military!" She watched her dive and roll, firing a few shots up at the chopper. "But which one?" She gritted her teeth, firing at her again.

The commando swore as she dodged the murderess fire from the Gatling gun. She needed something heavier, but if she went back to the wagon, to where all her other stuff lay, that chopper would defiantly chew up the wagon and her stuff as well. No, she needed to get its attention focused on something else.

Off in the bushes, she spied two of the Hinata girls. "Can any of you girls grab that things attention?" She shouted at them.

"How?" Kitsune shouted back at her.

"Use your imagination!" The commando hollered as more bullets tried to pin her.

"Imagination!" Kitsune shrieked as a few stray bullets whizzed by her ear. "Like what!"

"I don't know," the commando yelled. "Throw some rocks at the rotor blades or something."

"We're going to need something much more larger than just 'rocks' to throw at them!"

Kanako rubbed her chin as she looked over at Kitsune.

"Where the hell are the other three males?" Major Kiska shouted above the roar of the blades. "They were down there a few moments ago."

A soldier with a sniper rifle who stood beside her pointed at the woods. "Maybe they went into…"

"ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGHH!" They both watched in stunned silence as a woman suddenly flew out of the trees and up into the air. She flailed about as though she'd be thrown, and hit the side of the black hawk. She would've fallen down, had she not grabbed onto the landing gear below.

"What the hell?" The sniper gasped watching the girl swinging about from just below their position.

"Damn it, Goth Girl!" Kitsune screamed down at the woods. "That wasn't an invitation to throw ME!"

"What was THAT for?" Motoko asked. Kanako smiled, as she picked up a rock the size of a baseball.

"To distract them," Kanako said, "But you've gotta admit, it was a good laugh!" She then dashed from her cover, and reaching back her arm, swung it forward hurling the rock towards the machinery just below the main rotor blades.

It struck and something exploded there. Sparks erupted and the chopper lurched violently to the right. The jerk caused Kitsune to lose her grip on the landing gear, and fall all the way to the ground below. Luckily, she landed in the back of Motoko's wagon.

"That was awesome, fox lady!" Sara said, as Kitsune groaned in pain. "Can you do that again?"

"Oh me, oh my," Mutsumi said as she stretched. "What's all the racket?"

"Are you joking, turtle lady!" Kitsune moaned, "We're under attack!"

"Oh, really?" Mutsumi looked over at Seta battling some ninja woman, while the other girls were pelting the chopper with rocks, aiming from the lady arming the gatling gun, while the commando was bolting back towards Kitsune's wagon. "Wow," she said, "That looks very dangerous."

"Yeah, it is," Kitsune muttered sitting up and feeling her back. "Only they're the ones trying to kill us!"

"Really?" Mutsumi asked, a shocked expression on her face. "Well, that isn't very nice," Mutsumi scowled as she reached over to a bag she carried. She opened it, and pulled out a long, black tube.

"Umm," Kitsune said, her eyes growing wide. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Sure is," Mutsumi said with a smile. "A portable mini, ground to air missile launcher." She pulled the ends apart, and flipped up the sights. "You never know when one could come in handy." She said with her cheery smile.

Kistune just blinked. "I should be surprised. I really should, but I've been around you so long now, that anything you do doesn't surprise me."

"Now, let's see," Mutsumi said, pulling out an instruction booklet. "Oh me, oh my, these instructions are in French." She looked back to the rocket launcher. "Oh well, one of these buttons should do something." She looked at both ends of the launcher, before pointing one end at the chopper, and pushing a button.

There was a deafening roar and a bright flash of orange, red, and yellow, as the launcher fired. Backwards.

The commando who'd been running back towards Kitsune's wagon to get something heavier to fight back with didn't see the rocket until it was too late.

"Oh stupid bit!" Was all she managed before it exploded just a few feet away from her. The shockwave from the explosion lifted her a clear six feet into the air before throwing her into a tree. Her head lifted off the ground for a split second, before falling back down again.

"Holy cow!" Sara cried out in excitement.

"Opps," Mutsumi said, placing a hand over her mouth. "My bad."

"Good God," Kitsune gasped, "I hope she isn't dead!"

Inside the black hawk, the pilot was wrestling with the controls. "Major Kiska, I-I can't hold it! We're going down!"

The major grabbed hold of the sides of the door, and shouted, "All hands, brace for impact!" The chopper spun around, out of control as the main rotor was constantly losing speed. Then, it stopped all together, and plummeted 15 feet to the ground below.

From the trees, the three guys watched as everything unfolded. "Come on guys," Keitaro said to Haitani and Shirai. "Let's get those wagon's moving, while they're down!"

They both darted from the woods, towards Kitsune's wagon. Keitaro paused to shout out to Kitsune who was still in Motoko's wagon. "Kitsune!" He shouted, getting her attention, "Let's get the wagon's going, while the others hold them off! Hurry!"

She nodded and climbed into the drivers seat. Keitaro jumped into the back of Kitsune's wagon, while Haitani got that one moving. "Come on guys!" Kitsune yelled out to the others, "We're pulling out!"

The other girls all nodded, but made a beeline for seta and Number 8, surrounding her.

"Give it up," Liu snapped at her, "You're totally outnumbered!" Number 8 glared at the other girls and then to Seta.

"This isn't over yet, Seta," she said, giving the handle of her sword a squeeze. The end popped open, and two small tablets fell out. The moment they struck the ground, there was an explosion, and a dark grey smoke began to rapidly fill the air.

When the smoke cleared, she was gone. The girls looked about, then over at the crashed chopper. Some of the soldiers were stumbling about, dazed and confused. That wouldn't last long.

"Come on!" Motoko hissed, running towards the wagons, "Let's go, while they're still disorientated."

"S-stop the-em!" Major Kiska coughed as she crawled from the wreckage of the chopper. One of the soldiers already outside tried to stand up, back had to lean against the side of the chopper for balance. She fired a burst of her machine gun at them, but all the shots went wild.

"I, I can't…" The soldier coughed, before collapsing.

Just then, there was a shadow overhead, and Number 8 jumped down on the ground in front of the Major. "Damn it," the major snarled. "Why don't you go after them! That's the reason I brought you along!"

"I can't take them all on," Number 8 said, watching the vanishing wagons. "Not with Seta as well as the God's Cry School agent. I'm no match for the two of them."

"If you don't go after them, I'll have you hanged!" The Major snarled.

"Relax, will you," Number 8 said, smiling, as she held up what looked like a ranger finder. "Before launching my ambush, I planted a homing device on the lead wagon." She held it before her face, watching the bleeping screen. "We'll be able to follow them were ever they go." She then turned back to face the major. "That will give us ample time to organise reinforcements, enough to tip the balance in our favour."

"Okay, okay," the major, gasped, trying to climb to her feet. "You've made your point. Pilot!" There were a few coughs from the cockpit. "Dose the radio still work?"

"Yeah!" Came the reply.

"Radio Tokyo at once!" She shouted. "This time, I'm not taking any chances. I'm calling in everything we've got!"

"Hey, major!" Number 8 called out. The Major looked over to see Number 8 over by a tree, looking down at a sprawled figure in black. Number 8 bent down and lifted her head up. The woman was wearing a smoking flak jacket, and was out cold. The Major narrowed her eyes. It was the same woman she'd seen firing at her. The one with military training.

"Excellent," she snarled, and then coughed some more. "Tie her up, and send her back to head quarters for interrogation! I want to find out just who she's working for!"

**BENEATH THE WATERS OFF THE COAST OF JAPAN: Five Hours Later…**

Captain Thea was growing used to the relatively spacious surroundings of the submarine. It was a monster, stealthy and huge, kitted out to operate far from home and for months at a time. Indeed, her clean fusion drive meant that were it not for the need to re-arm the torpedo bays and refill the galley, the ship could stay out indefinitely.

She casually paced down the corridors to the bridge. She received a somewhat casual salute from an officer working one of the holographic map. She hastily returned the salute before continuing to the large chair, in the middle of the bridge. Beside it, the ships XO stood, keeping watch over the bridge. The captain and the XO saluted each other, before the XO leaned over to the person on the other side of the chair, and said something in a low voice.

"Ma'am," the captain said. "We just received this message about five minutes ago." A light brown skinned arm appeared from behind the chair, and she handed the report to the hand, which snatched it from her, and vanished behind the chair.

"What!" the XO said, her face registering shock. "Our agent has been captured?"

"Yes," Captain Thea replied. "Although I would like to point out the fact I did warn everyone involved against using that Ex-North Korean Agent for our dirty work!"

"Well, she did look Japanese, and she even spoke the language fluently," The XO, replied. "And may I remind you that none of our agents even look remotely Japanese."

"Point taken," the Captain said. "But may I also point out the fact if she signs, we're sunk!" She looked nervously around the room. "Intercepts of radio traffic from Japan, indicates that they firmly believe that our submarine is in fact an Australian ship. We can deny any involvement in this matter, but that agent was a free gun for hire! If the Japanese pay her enough money she might spill the beans and blow the whole lid of our operation, and that could lead to them asking some very dangerous questions we can't possibly afford to answer!"

There was a moments silence, before the XO shrugged her shoulders and asked, "So, then what are we going to do?" No one answered, but made gestures towards the back of the chair.

"We proceed as planed, Dr. Spock!" A young female's voice cried out, as the chair spun around. "Scotty! All engines full ahead! Warp factor 9!"

Both the captain and the Xo bowed deep and low, showing their respect. "At once, Prince Su!" They both said, and hurried away.

Kaolla Su sat loop-sided in the captain's chair, a wild grin on her face as the captain started shouting orders to get the ship underway. "He-heh!" She giggled. "This is going to be sooooo, much fun!" She stopped chewing on the report that had been handed to her to look at it once more. "Keitaro, my little genuine pig! I have not given up on you, just yet!"

**AT THAT VERY MOMENT…**

Keitaro suddenly shivered. Seta looked over at him.

"Something wrong, Keitaro?" He asked.

"Nothing really," Keitaro said with the small shake of his head. "It's just that I… Well, you know when you get that chill, that runs up your spine when the air conditioning on too cold?" Seta nodded. "Well, I just got one of those!"

"Whoops," Seta said, picking up a remote. "That's my bad, I'll turn off the air con!" He pressed a button and there was a low beep.

"Thanks," Keitaro said. He leaned back against the side of the wagon, and looked up at the roof, thinking about where his life would go from here.

Wow! So many new things I've learnt, and all in one day. Many questions answered, but so many more new ones to boot! Who did that agent work for? Where is she now? Who created the Well of Immortality, and… And what the fuck is a wagon doing with Air Condition!

**AUTHOR's NOTE: **As you've probably guessed by now, that vase that Seta has, is the same one he had in Love Hina Vol. 13.


End file.
